President Kristin Keller welcomed members and guests to our meeting at Palmera Inn and Suites
Kevin Courtney offered the prayer and led the pledge to the flag
 
Announcements:
We need additional people to volunteer to help at the All Club Conference on March 11 to March 13.  Our club is responsible for managing the door prizes and needs volunteers to work assigned shifts.
 
Joe Rowey reported on meeting with Heritage. Our involvement will be service, point of sale.  We can keep the pop corn wagon and sell beer and wine.  It is anticipated we will earn about $10,000. Looking for ideas to let people know where the tip money goes - rack cards.  We will be able to volunteer for 5 hour shifts.
 
Suzi Oliver, Sergeant at Arms, collected Happy $$
 
Speaker:
David Nelems, Interim CEO of the Don Ryan Center for Innovation was our speaker
The Don Ryan Center for Innovation provides startup and growth assistance to Beaufort and Jasper County entrepreneurs. It gives guidance to anyone who need support when starting or running a business. It is part of the Town of Bluffton.  Clemson University developed and ran the program for 3 years and Bluffton was the first incubator.  They bring economic opportunity through three main programs for business: Programs; Membership, over 1,000 members; Mentorships, two mentors on each company team, there are 63 mentors with a lot of talent.  Some programs are free others are paid for. One free program is "Resiliant" established in March 2020 to help with Covid - most businesses do not know their numbers.  Start up Programs (paid), have 50 companies.  This is the core of what they have been doing since 2012.  It is a 12 month program. Large sampling of companies - everything from chocolates, toilet seats, quilting. They do not guarantee success, just gets you to success or failure sooner.  Growth is a Paid Program which helps companies with the next step - to meet their goals. Heroes initiative supports military and first responders who innovate. Launched via a grant from South Carolina.  Mentors work with the company.  If you want to be a mentor, apply on the website.  TDRC is located at "The Hub" Buckwalter.  Next is "The Fab" (short for fabrication).  which provides a concept to product solution.  They make small proto-types of the product to see how it works.