Training to be held to educate local businesses

Cape Girardeau Area Magnet and the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area chambers of commerce will host two training sessions next month to educate local businesses about opportunities to help their businesses grow. The sessions set for Wednesday, Dec. 7, will focus on four different programs to help existing businesses and those interested in starting a new business.

Speakers and topics are:

* Carol Shoemaker, Missouri Department of Economic Development: "Missouri Enhanced Enterprise Zone Program and Cape Girardeau County's new zone."

* David Meyer, Missouri Department of Economic Development: "Missouri's Economic Development Tools for Expanding/Growing Businesses"

* Drew Christian, SEMO Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission: "RPC's Revolving Loan Fund"

* Jessie Beasley, Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: "Accion Micro Loan Program."

Presentations will be offered from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce, 125 East Main St., and from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, 1267 N. Mount Auburn Road.

For more information or to register for a meeting, call 334-5000 or email jvoss@capeareamagnet.com.

* Tammy Sellers and Debbie Childers have launched the Open Door Estate Sales and Liquidations Website, www.opendoorestatesalesandliquidations.com. Their new business provides clients the service of estate sales and liquidations due to deaths, divorces, relocations or downsizing. They will research to provide the best prices, handle all work before, during and after the estate or liquidation sale. Open Door also prices and displays items in a professional way to maximize potential values. The goal of each sale is to help individuals manage their personal situation in the simplest and quickest way possible. Debbie Childers has been in early childhood and elementary education, working with Cape Girardeau Public Schools. After working many years in the radiology field, Tammy has decided to pursue her interest in estate sales. They both have interest and knowledge of household goods, antiquities and expertise in pricing.

* Wehrenberg Theatres is now 100 percent digital in all auditoriums, including the Cape Girardeau location which received its final upgraded equipment last week to transfer to all-digital projection. Digital cinema offers improved clarity and detail and a range of colors including 35 trillion shades. Whether a guest sees a film on opening night, or the last day of its run, there is no deterioration or fading. Digital movies are also immune to the imperfections of regular 35 mm film, such as scratches, pops or skips.

* Saint Francis Medical Center won eight Show-Me Excellence awards, including two first-place awards, for excellence in health care marketing from the Missouri Association for Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing. This statewide honor recognizes an institution's efforts to educate and inform the community about health-related issues and services. The Missouri Hospital Association announced the awards at its 89th Annual Convention & Trade Show in Osage Beach, Mo.

The Show-Me Excellence awards Saint Francis earned include:

First-place awards in the Employee Communication Projects category: Clean Hand Jive campaign and the video category: Pink Up Cape Video 2010. Second-place awards in the Internal Publications/Routine -- Printed category for PowerLine Employee Newsletter. Third-place awards for Advertising -- Television category: "So Glad I'm Here" Family Birthplace TV spot; Cooperative Partnerships category: Dig for Life campaign; External Publications/Routine -- Electronic category: Services to Business e-Newsletter; Media Relations Activity or Program -- Mid to Large Size Hospital category: Womancare Expansion; Special Marketing or Public Relations Project category: Oral Cancer Screening.

* Residents in the Old Appleton area now have access to a nearby fitness center: Lifestyle Fitness. The around-the-clock facility, recently opened in Apple Creek at 4148 PCR 520, Suite B, Lifestyle Fitness contains weight machines, free weights and cardio equipment, and its members receive a pass key giving them 24/7 access every day of the year. The facility was opened by Carol Moore and Mike Harvell, who live in Old Appleton and manage two other businesses headquartered there. The couple also co-own Life-Style Design, a design-build firm that combines interior design and construction. They have also spent hundreds of hours renovating and organizing the contents of the former Old Appleton Mercantile, an antiques and salvage store in the heart of downtown that includes such varied items as the former Marquette Hotel sign, check-in cards and keys, as well as claw-foot bathtubs and antique hardware.

Southeast Missourian business editor Melissa Miller may be contacted at 388-3646 or mmiller@semissourian.com.