With its 2020 awards, the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce spotlighted leaders in the community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides saluting East Georgia Regional Medical Center as Business of the Year and Ranco Group founder Randy Childs as Business Leader of the Year, the Chamber of Commerce presented a first-time Spirit Award to one individual and named three Chamber Champions. More than 200 members and guests filled an area set up as a banquet hall inside the Whitfield Signs warehouse in the West District development Thursday for the chamber’s annual luncheon.

Chamber President Skip Alford served as master of ceremonies, Georgia Southern University Athletic Director Jared Benko was the guest speaker, and outgoing 2020 Chamber Chair Chris Gohagan announced most of the awards.

 

Business of the Year

The 2020 Business of the Year “has successfully been able to stay strong and take really good care of Bulloch County citizens throughout the pandemic,” Gohagan said. “The CEO of this organization is proud that relationships between his organization and local community leaders, colleges and emergency management leadership is now stronger and more transparent that pre-COVID.”

After referring to the winning organization’s leadership as “on the front lines, tirelessly working to help keeping all Bulloch County residents safe,” and having handled increased responsibility “with grace,” Gohagan called East Georgia Regional Medical Center CEO Stephen Pennington forward to accept the award.

“Thank you. I’m honored, humbled to receive this award on behalf of our employees, our physicians, our volunteers and also our board members,” Pennington said. “We work extremely hard every day. We’ve been devoted to our patients and their family members. I’m very proud of our employees.”

Pennington arrived as CEO of the Statesboro hospital, which is licensed for 149 in-patient beds and employs more than 750 people, in July 2019. He came with 20 years of administrative experience in other facilities operated by Community Health Systems, EGRMC’s parent company.

In an interview earlier this year, Pennington talked about promoting an “always” culture, committed to always providing patients and families the best experience possible. He sounded a similar theme in accepting the award.

“We try to focus on a few things,” he said. “We try to improve communication. We try to also recognize employees and work on courtesy and respect and transparency and visibility. … We take our jobs at the hospital very seriously and our role as being servant leaders. I want to be clear, our goal … is to be the best community hospital in country, and we’re improving each and every day.”

 

Leader in responding
Randy Childs, the chamber’s 2020 Business Leader of the Year, founded Ranco Tent Rentals in Statesboro in 1982 and has expanded it to be the Ranco Group. Now with corporate headquarters in a new building he owns and had built for the purpose in the West District, the Ranco Group also has offices in Pooler and Augusta.

Gohagan yielded the microphone to 2019 Business Leader honoree Josh Whitfield, owner of Whitfield Signs and one of the partners in the West District development, to introduce Childs as the 2020 winner.

“I’ve always known him personally, but to get to know him professionally, what his team does, when you see a hurricane coming, you will see this man and the team in his office every night,” Whitfield said. “When there’s a pandemic arriving, he is the one that is headed to New York; his team is headed to New York, Texas, to the military bases. These are the guys that get the support to the medical professionals, to the guys that are out there saving lives.”

Childs and employees remain active in his original market niche, providing tents and tables for outdoor sales events, weddings and celebrations. They even set out the tables, linens and utensils for Thursday’s luncheon.

But The Ranco Group now includes Ranco Disaster Services, for responding to natural disasters, and Ranco Response, providing tents, power supplies, air-conditioning and even catering for turn-key military encampments.

Whitfield had made sure Childs would be there but kept the award a surprise by telling him he would be needed as an auctioneer.

“Thank you very much. It’s just an unbelievable honor,” Childs told the crowd. “It’s all about people, but y’all know that. You’ve all got businesses, and without the people I’ve got working for me, I wouldn’t be here doing this today.”

He also thanked his wife, Deadra, for her support and encouragement. She is a banker, but their two sons, Davis and Thomas, and their daughter, Morgan, work with the Ranco Group, which now employs 80 to 90 people.

Ranco has worked in the field response to every major hurricane since Katrina in 2005, Gohagan said. This year, they set up camps for workers doing cleanup and repair after the hurricanes that hit Louisiana, as well as tents and furnishings for COVID-19 testing and response in Statesboro, in New York City, at various locations in Florida, and in several other states.

 

Chamber Spirit Award

The new Chamber Spirit Award “recognizes an individual that demonstrates the very essence of what chamber family is about,” Gohagan said. “As you know, family takes care of each other in good times and in hard times. This individual’s approach to serving others is what defines him and what makes him such a valuable part of our chamber family.”

The first-ever Chamber Spirit Award recipient is DeWayne Grice of the online media company Grice Connect.

When the chamber needed help this year keeping its community partners “informed and connected, DeWayne stepped up in a new way,” Gohagan said. “His social media reach and immediate access was a huge part of getting our information and the community information distributed.”

Grice is also does volunteer work with Bulloch VOAD and Feed the Boro, as well as through Grice Connect, which he launched with a philanthropic purpose of providing live communication in support of local charitable efforts, he said.

 

Chamber Champions

Meanwhile, the Chamber Champions designation, also new this year, “recognizes chamber partners that utilize their resources, talent and creative thinking and create revenue streams and increased presence for local businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Gohagan said.

The three 2020 Chamber Champions awards went to Core Credit Union, to Lee, Hill & Johnston Insurors and to Sean Fox of Pioneer Design.

“Realizing that local businesses were suffering due to the pandemic, the team at Core stepped forward right away and devoted a considerable amount of financial resources and funding in a very successful Pay It Forward program,” Gohagan said. “This program had a major impact in our business community, particularly in our downtown area” and “initiated a genuine spirit of giving that still resonates among local businesses today.

Lee, Hill & Johnston provided funding and other support to launch a gift-card purchasing program for chamber-member merchants that gave them “an immediate influx of revenue” and also “increased presence and exposure” and foot traffic through weekly drawings for card winners, Gohagan said. Grice Connect was also involved in this project, publicizing it and livestreaming the 10 weekly drawings.

Pioneer Design entrepreneur Fox “in the early stages of the pandemic saw the need for a venue that would help businesses market and safely deliver their products without violating the governor’s executive guidelines,” Gohagan said.

Fox built and launched the website On & Open, at onandopen.com, “an online market that was developed for the simple purpose of being easy to navigate,” Gohagan said.

Some participating vendors reported record sales in 2020, he added.