The Merrill Chamber of Commerce Foundation recently elected new officers and welcomed three new members to their board of directors. The newly elected officers are President Jeff Benedict of Church Mutual Insurance, Treasurer Tony Kusserow of Courtside Furniture and Secretary Debbe Kinsey of the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce.

The three new members elected to the board of directors are Chris Malm of Park Street Properties, Helene Ader, retired/active community volunteer and David Hayes of Edward Jones Investments. Each new member may service up to three, two-year consecutive terms.

The Merrill Chamber of Commerce Foundation is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) that was established in 2005 as a community foundation whose areas of purpose include but are not limited to economic development, community preservation & development, infrastructure preservation & improvement and educational activities including historic preservation.

The foundation currently has several community funds in place for specific projects working to enhance the beauty, history and/or promotion of the Merrill community. Those funds include the Community Flower Basket Fund which provides for the hanging flower baskets that grace the lamp posts during the summer season; the Courthouse Christmas Tree Lighting Fund which provides for the holiday decorations and tree lightings on the Lincoln County courthouse grounds; the Friends of Normal Park Fund which provides for the commemorative bricks that will be installed this spring as part of the gazebo project at Normal Park; the Chamber of Commerce New Sign Fund to provide for a new digital event/tourism sign for the Chamber office and a general foundation fund. These funds have been established as a depository for tax-deductible donations from community members interested in supporting these specific programs.

The Chamber of Commerce Foundation would like to thank Randy Brandner of Church Mutual Insurance and Kevin Cohrs of Edward Jones Investments for their years of service to the foundation as past president and treasurer. Brandner and Cohrs were original board members and served as the first officers of the corporation from January 2005 through December 2010.

For more information on the Chamber of Commerce Foundation or to make a donation to any of their community funds contact the Chamber of Commerce at 715-536-9474.