Highlights of the Best of South Lake Business Awards Gala Presented By The South Lake Chamber of Commerce

Aimee Stanley, board chair of the South Lake Chamber of Commerce welcomed guests to the 5th Annual Best of South Lake Business Awards Gala on Wednesday evening, January 19 at Bella Collina.

The signature event recognizes people and businesses who made a positive difference in the community. The recipients were selected through a nomination & voting process.

YOU VOTED AND BELOW ARE THE BEST OF SOUTH LAKE RECIPIENTS 

2022 Heritage Award recognizes a business or community that has shown continued contributions to the South Lake business community and has been active in the community for 25 years or more.

The Heritage Award was presented to City Manager Michael Hein and the City of Groveland. The award was presented by Wendy Terry.

The City of Groveland is celebrating 32 years of Chamber membership in 2022. They are also celebrating their 100-year anniversary.

This City has transformed the culture of all city departments and improved the services that they provide. In recent years, it has rebranded itself as “the City of Natural Charm” and has helped to create economic prosperity in Lake County. It has helped attract significant business investment that has resulted in hundreds of good-paying jobs.  These accomplishments include:

The Grand Opening of Kroger in June 2021. This 375,00 square foot facility provides premier grocery delivery to our residents and added more than 600 jobs to our local economy. This project was recognized by the Florida Economic Development Council as 2021’s Regional Deal of the Year.

Also in 2021, Amazon held a grand opening for a 1,000,000 square foot Last-Mile Delivery Station that added more than 200 jobs to the local economy.

Construction is underway for a 425,000 square foot class A speculative Distribution Center on American Way in the Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park that will bring $26 million dollars in investment to Lake County. This project is sure to bring more excellent jobs and prosperity to our local communities.

The City of Groveland will celebrate its Centennial Celebration later this year.

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The Oakley Seaver Special Service Award honors a nonprofit business, club, organization, educational institution or healthcare facility that has contributed significantly to the community and created a lasting impact or benefit.

The award was presented to Pastor Brian Broadway, Founder of Find, Feed & Restore by Nancy Cummings, granddaughter of. Oakley Seaver.

Find, Feed & Restore is a non-profit that assists families with children. After 6 years of providing food, career development, computer training and job placement assistance, Pastor Broadway realized the missing element, The actual foundation necessary for families with children to develop and grow in a stable environment for them to call home. He created and implemented three effective and strategic methods: (1) Housing First (no-cost housing for 6 to 12 months) (2) Permanent Housing Solutions (affordable housing for working families) and (3) Homelessness Avoidance.

Brian Broadway, a native of New York and Founder of Find, Feed & Restore, is married to Allison Broadway and together they have two beautiful daughters, Grace and Hannah. In 2004, Brian and his family relocated to South Lake and here they began their work. Heartbroken by the daily calls received by parents with children and no place to lay their heads, Brian established what is known as Find, Feed & Restore to meet the demand for homelessness in Lake County. Brian prides himself on providing a place for homeless families with children, rather than building multi-million-dollar facilities to conduct business. His passion to eradicate homelessness has led Find, Feed & Restore to be recognized on local news channels, Style Magazine and named 2021 Non-Profit of the Year by Community Foundation of South Lake.

The South Lake Chamber’s Citizen of the Year Award is an annual award given to a south Lake resident who has displayed extraordinary dedication to our community.

This year’s award was presented to Michelle Michnoff by Dr. Kasey Kesselring, President of Montverde Academy and a prior award winner.

Michelle has been involved in many aspects of life in Lake County. She is a Past Chair of the Chamber Board and a Past Chair of the Boys and Girls Club of Lake and Sumter Counties. Her hard work and energy lead to the founding of Charities Across South Lake. She is the long-time Chair of the South Lake Teacher Appreciation Breakfast and Taste of South Lake. As the Vice President and Regional Community Bank Manager for Seacoast Bank, she has facilitated the efforts for the Payroll Protection Plan for hundreds of local small businesses.

A BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT WAS SHOWN ON THE 2022 BEST OF SOUTH LAKE BUSINESS RECIPIENTS (See more photos by visiting the Tablet’s Facebook Page: 2022 THE BEST OF SL ALBUM)

The South Lake Tablet is truly honored to be selected as the recipient of the Best Digital Publication!

Thank you to the staff of the South Lake Chamber of Commerce who organized an awesome event. It was so perfectly planned; cocktails, dinner, dessert, award presentations, everything covered and promptly ended at 9 pm. (I still can’t believe how they did it).

Keep a lookout for additional pictures and updates on the SOUTH LAKE TABLET