Member News - Save 20% at Belk, Local Child Donates Birthday Gifts to Others, Destin is Destination on the Rise, & More

Wyndham Vacation Rentals® Offers Properties in “Destination on the Rise”
Wyndham Vacation Rentals® offers vacation rental accommodations in Destin, a “Destination on the Rise,” as recently named by TripAdvisor®. From Gulf-front condominiums and luxury townhomes to private beach cottages, Wyndham Vacation Rentals is a leading provider of authentic beach accommodations along Northwest Florida’s Emerald Coast. The 2013 Travelers' Choice™ Awards for Destinations on the Rise featured more than 50 locations globally, which have seen the greatest increase in positive feedback and interest from travelers year-over-year. Destin, Fla. was ranked third among the top 10 Destinations on the Rise in the U.S. To learn more about what to do and where to stay in the Destin area, visitwww.wyndhamvacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/florida/northwest-florida/destin/.

Save 20% on Feb. 25 at Belk
February is American Heart Month, and Belk is partnering with the American Heart Association’s My Heart. My Life.™ initiative to help raise heart disease awareness. Did you know heart disease is the number one killer of women in America? More than all cancers, lung disease and strokes combined. And unfortunately, not enough people know it. So what can you do? For starters, you can live a healthy lifestyle: eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, keep active and don’t smoke. Want to learn more? Stop by your neighborhood Belk store on Tuesday, Feb. 25, for Healthy Living Day. Click here for a 20% coupon.

Eight-year Old Donates Birthday Presents to CIC Children Eight-year old Anahi Cortes has learned to be charitable at an early age. During her recent birthday party she decided to donate all her gifts to needy children living at Children in Crisis. She asked her guests to bring books and needed items for the CIC children instead of toys. “I did this for kids of my age that are less fortunate than me. I just wanted to help the children. Some children don’t have as many things as I do,” said Cortes, as she presented the gifts to CIC president and CEO Ken Hair. For more information on CIC, visit www.childrenincrisisfl.org or call (850) 864-4242.

Volunteer Florida Presents Champion of Service Award to Destin’s Nancy Weidenhamer At the Feb. 18 Destin City Council meeting, Mayor Sam Seevers and Volunteer Florida CEO Chester Spellman presented the Volunteer Florida Champion of Service Award to Nancy Weidenhamer, who has been improving the Destin Community in many ways since 1990. Weidenhamer began volunteering locally by teaching literacy to adults. Since then, she helped establish the Destin Community Land Trust, chairs the Public Works and Safety Standing Committee, and is vice-chair of the Harbor Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Advisory Committee. Her most recent achievement includes leading the charge in the creation and completion of Destin’s first dog park. For more information about the award, visit www.volunteerflorida.org.

Snowbird Crafters Help Children’s Advocacy Center Each year the Fort Walton Beach Snowbird Crafters, with their hands and hearts, make wonderful stuffed animals and beautiful blankets for the Emerald Coast Children's Advocacy Center. The ladies visit from all over, including Michigan, Canada, Ohio, and Minnesota. For more information about the Children’s Advocacy Center, visit www.eccac.org or call (850) 833-9237.

Genealogical Society of Okaloosa County Donates to Museum On behalf of the Genealogical Society of Okaloosa County (GSOC), Jim Young donates a 47” television to the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida. The television will be used for presentations during public programs, events, and organization meetings. For more information about museum’s work and upcoming events, visit www.heritage-museum.org.

Legendary Marine Wins National Neptune Award Legendary Marine won the 2013 Neptune Award for Best Regional Marketing in North America, during the Miami International Boat Show. Presented by Marine Marketers of America, the Neptune Awards annually recognizes the best marine marketing in North America, judged this year by 17 independent marketing experts. The sixth annual competition garnered its second largest field of entry this year and presented 13 separate awards. In a tightly contested category, Legendary Marine and Kenton Smith Marketing won the Neptune for the Best Regional Marketing award, given for its cohesive entry, Boating Industry - #1 Dealer in North America Marketing Campaign. Check out more from Legendary Marine at www.legendarymarine.com.

Register Now for the 2014 Sacred Heart Charity Golf Classic 
Register now to play in the 2014 Sacred Heart Charity Golf Classic on Monday, March 31, at Burnt Pine Golf Club at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. Proceeds will support the upgrade of a new, state-of-the-art Cardiac Monitoring System for surgery patients in our Perioperative Services Department. This sensitive system monitors patients’ vital signs before, during and after surgery – a critical component of patient care. The Sacred Heart Charity Golf Classic has become the signature fundraising event for Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast. Since its inception in 2002, it has raised more than $2.8 million for Sacred Heart. Find details and register at www.sacredheartgolfclassic.com or call (850) 278-3700.

Emergency Shelter to Undergo Expansion, Renovations
Big changes are coming to Shelter House Domestic and Sexual Violence Center in the form of a huge construction project. Thanks to a capital grant for $286,076 from the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), the confidential emergency shelter will receive an extreme makeover! Shelter House was one of 11 centers within Florida to receive a portion of $10 million. The greatest need that will be addressed is increased bed space to accommodate more domestic violence survivors and longer stays during busier times. By the end of construction, the shelter will grow from 24 to 32 beds, not including the addition of six new cribs. Find details atwww.shelterhousenwfl.org.

Southern Community Garage Sale Fundraiser
Following the RE/MAX Southern Destin move to the main Go Southern office at 4608 Opa-Locka Lane in Destin, the Go Southern company is hosting a community garage sale on Saturday, March 1, from 7 a.m. - 1 p.m. Featuring high-end office furniture and décor, like-new clothing and other odds and ends donated by Southern employees, 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House. The event will take place at the old RE/MAX Southern office located at 34894 Emerald Coast Parkway in Destin. 

In 2013, the Go Southern company donated more than $120,000 in stays, thousands of sponsorship dollars and hundreds of volunteer hours to Gulf Coast charities and foundations. 

Instructions to Submit Member News ItemsDo you have special business information you would like to share with all Chamber members and our website visitors? Please send your exciting news, which can be about an upcoming event or other timely information, to news@DestinChamber.com. Only Chamber members are allowed to post news, each news item has to be less than 100 words, only one item per member is allowed each week, and Chamber staff reserves the right to reject or edit postings that do not meet the requirements. All news items are due by Friday for posting the following Monday. The link to this page will be sent out in our weekly Tuesday Talking Points email, and the news item will remain on the website until the next Monday's posting. We will not keep an archive of these pages, and no photos, logos or general business descriptions will be posted. Also, member news items will only be published once.