Page 4 - Mar-Apr 23 Reporter

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

SPRING IS IN

THE AIR

rebecca gravelle

LBMAO Chair
Wood Works of Renfrew Ltd, Renfrew

s winter hopefully comes to an end soon, and spring but hopefully we were all able to take a bit of time on this day
Astarts to bloom, I hope you are all able to take a moment to recognize our female staff & coworkers, customers, clients,
to appreciate the beauty of the changing seasons! Typically suppliers, community members and more for their contributions.
business starts to pick up now too, which is great. But in my As a young woman, who employs a staff that is almost 50%
area, storms, and then snow melts, and then more snow again women, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge ALL the
has been wreaking a bit of havoc on our stores and it’s looking amazing ladies in this industry who continue to provide guidance
like one will need a new septic system and one may need a new and inspiration to the rest of us. I’m so proud that we have a
roof, or at least some major repairs. The joys of being a business female Chair and Vice-Chair currently on our Board, and I thank
owner, am I right?! But this really is such a wonderful time of Vice-Chair Barb Schering for her ongoing commitment to the
year though, and the longer days and warmer weather have me Association and her encouragement of me personally!
looking to even brighter days ahead. Looking ahead to the rest of the year; like I said in my last
March is certainly going to be an exciting time! For me column, I don’t really know what to expect but I am optimistic.
personally, I’ll be heading down to Nashville for Castle’s AGM at This January and February were more like the Januarys and
the end of the month, so I’m very excited for that. And for the Februarys of years past for my stores, a little quiet but still lots
Association, March will also see us hosting our own AGM. By the of buzz and estimates are rolling in for Spring projects. We’re
time you receive this issue the AGM may have happened already; cleaning our yards, doing staff training, and making the best of
but I’m sure it will be another successful event! On March 23rd this time. We’ve got some big projects slated for the Spring and
at 2pm, we’ll be hosting a hybrid format meeting. Members Summer and can’t wait.
will be attending in person at the Hilton Garden Inn Toronto/ As always, those of us on the LBMAO Board and the staff in the
Mississauga, as well as via Zoom. Looking forward to seeing you office are here to help in anyway we can, so feel free to reach out
there, whether in person or online. The Board is really hoping to us anytime. I’m sending you all warm wishes for a bright and
to be able to add more to our in-person event for next year and prosperous Spring, and hope to see some of you soon!
get back to an event more like what we had pre-Covid! Thanks so
much to Joanne, Trevor, and the rest of the staff (but especially Until then, Cheers!
Joanne!) for all their hard work to put this event together. Rebecca
We’ve also got a lot of our regular training programs
scheduled for March, so hopefully our retailer members have
been able to take advantage of some of those. This also includes
adding our Estimating: Residential Construction, Advanced
Forum back to the docket which is very exciting.
There is another important date I wanted to highlight for
March and that’s March 8th which is International Women’s
Day. This day may mean different things to different people,

4 LBMAO Reporter - March-April 2023 www.lbmao.on.ca