'It has been a remarkable year,' Rancho Mirage Chamber CEO says

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More than a year of COVID-19 has been a blow to the world and certainly shook the entire Coachella Valley.

Rancho Mirage has been no exception, but the little town has come through.

When the pandemic began, it wasn't at all clear that Rancho Mirage would survive and even thrive, but it was clear that we really are better together.

"The Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce has been laser focused on recovery since the start of the shutdown," Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Katie Stice told Desert Magazine, recalling the earliest months when area businesses and nonprofits closed their doors, thousands lost their job and no one knew what the future would hold.

"The first month, we fielded calls and went to work on regular live videos walking people through the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic," Stice said. "Even if we didn't have all of the answers, we showed up for the community and shared updates."

That worked, so the chamber, government and other area groups kept doing it.

"Even today, we continue to meet people right where they are and help in every way we can, and the response from the community is overwhelmingly gracious," Stice said. "The pivot didn't change who we are at our core: Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce is a '3 Cs chamber' – a Champion for Business, Convener of Leaders and Influencers and a Catalyst for Growth."

The chamber also worked with the City of Rancho Mirage on its Food Access Grant Program, the locally administered Great Plates Program and the Small Business Grant Program.

"We launched the Business Recovery Alliance team and two strong social media group pages and small Business Headquarters and Employment Opportunities," Stice said.

All through the worst of the pandemic, Rancho Mirage Chamber continued to provide essential services, training, meetings and events, such as job fairs, veterans' programs, commerce and coffee networking, town hall meetings, small business Saturday events, COVID compliance training, crisis leadership workshops, stimulus load and grant presentations, and small business headquarters.

Rancho Mirage Chamber also boosted small business Saturday events, including shop local campaigns and guides, particularly last year's "Keep the Cheer Here" holiday shopping campaign and the "Taste of Summer Rancho Mirage" and "Digital Cafe Series" events.

The chamber also reached out to area essential workers.

"One of the things we really enjoyed was supporting our front-line nurses throughout the crisis by raising more than $7,000 for meals we purchased at local restaurants and delivered them to the area hospital ICU and COVID units," Stice said. "After the monies were exhausted, we held a giant cookie bake both for Hanukkah and Christmas Eve deliveries with a coffee donation from Rancho Mirage Starbucks. It gave the community an opportunity to support the nurses safely from home."

The chamber's series of live videos also has been a hit that won't end with the pandemic.

"We interviewed almost 150 local businesses, nonprofits and lawmakers and covered everything from COVID law changes for employers to testing news and updates to how to support area businesses and nonprofits during this time and learning their stories," Stice said. "This is something Rancho Mirage Chamber will continue to do as added value to the members and community at large."

With the pandemic -- hopefully -- waning, it's time to look to the future.

"This year we hope to again offer some of our incredibly popular EXPO events, and we are starting to plan for the Health, Wealth & Wellness EXPO with an added Back 9 @The River in Rancho Mirage," Stice said. "This is a great business-to-business and business-to-consumer event, which helps our community concentrate on overall wellness while allowing the businesses to gain direct exposure and marketing."

The chamber's 15th annual Nurses Appreciation Luncheon, scheduled for last year, had to be postponed but the chamber now hopes "to honor our nurses this year in the most appropriate way after all of their sacrifice and dedication," Stice said. "It has been a remarkable year for the medical industry and our nurses."

The chamber also hopes to offer "a special golf tournament at a very special location," Stice said. "Stay tuned!"

This year's "Shop Local Guide" is expected to reach thousands from Rancho Mirage to parts of Palm Desert and Cathedral City.

"This dynamic guide is the perfect magazine for shopping, dining and supporting local businesses through recovery," she said. "We must make sure to tell the stories of the business owners and their dreams. These small businesses are what make the desert a unique community. In order to save them, we must spend local always – the message is more important now than ever before."