Keene Young Professionals Network

In these tough economic times, we are constantly bombarded with news of bank failures, home foreclosures, and job losses. Many people around the world are affected by this financial crisis. Retailers in America are wondering how they will profit this holiday season with everyone pinching their pennies. The government speaks of economic stimuli and wishes to fix some of the problems by encouraging us to spend our money.

As a local community bank, we process thousands of checks daily, unfortunately some of those checks are returned to us, and then back to our customers, due to a variety of reasons. One of the most difficult situations to collect funds involves a returned check from a check scam.

You have asked for more seminars, ask and ye shall receive! Here are just a few things that the KeeneYPN team is working on for you:

-Get active this Winter by joining a KeeneYPN sports team.
-Get on top of your finances with a personal finance seminar.
-Volunteer opportunities coming soon.

More event details will be coming soon, if you have an idea for an event please contact us. We are always looking for new and exciting ideas!

By now you've probably heard about Hurricane Gustav, and the Red Cross has already spent $12 million to deploy over 3000 Red Cross staff and volunteers to assist those affected by Gustav. From our local chapter here in Keene we currently have 7 volunteers on the ground, and another to be deployed in the next week. The Red Cross has been training new disaster volunteers day and night over the holiday weekend in Keene and throughout the state.

Whether it’s a recession or not, the economy is a troubled state right now, and you don’t have to watch the news to know that less money is making it to your wallet at the end of the month. Gas prices are rising, which is pushing up the costs of virtually all of our goods and services. Families are worrying about how they are going to pay for fuel oil this winter. We’re all feeling it. While I can’t give you the magic answer to solve all of your money problems, I can give you some tips on how to save.

Thank you Heidi Hale for hosting our last event at the beautiful E.F. Lane Hotel and thank you to everyone who came out despite the pending nor' eastah! ZanRicky was awesome, live music is the best music.

Congratulations to Kim Hughes, winner of the $25.00 gift certificate for E.F. Lane. And to our contest winners, Maureen McHugh, Mike Giacomo and Tim Stockton, who all won dinner for two certificates to Margaritas.

Check out some of the pictures here.

Special thanks go out to Doni Ash, owner of Lab 'n Lager, for hosting our last event! It was great to see so many people and all the new faces.

Congratulations go out to Michael Blair from ListeningStyle.com, winner of the $50.00 American Express Gift Card, it was his first event no less. And to Michelle Quinn from Markem, winner of the $25.00 Gift Certificate to Lab 'n Lager. The perfect gift for an Irish woman!

We had another fun and successful event last night! I met a lot of new people and it was great to see so many new faces. It was also nice to see many of the people I met back at our first event at Margaritas back in June. Thanks go out to Randy Filiault for hosting our event at the Railroad Tavern; and also to Bad Dawgs for surprising us with some interesting, but very tasty hot dogs. Who knew hot dogs and jalapeños worked so well together?

So I'm looking forward to pumpkin fest, if we don't beat Boston this year I think I may cry. Well, probably not cry, maybe tear up... nevertheless I'll be inconsolable for at least 5 minutes. If you haven't already carved a pumpkin then get on it and I'll see you at the festival!

Last month we had an excellent turn out at La Carreta, and I don't know about you but I sure had a lot of fun. I hope to see everyone again November 7th at the Railroad Tavern! Don't forget to bring a friend or coworker! The more people we get the more fun it will be.

With most of the current networking groups and events in the Keene area, I find that the majority of the members are older. Of course this isn't a bad thing, but I think most will agree you find a lot more to talk about, and it's a little easier, when the attendees are closer to your age.

I'm very excited about this group and I hope it flourishes, there are a lot of younger professionals in the area and I hope to see them all at Margaritas on June 6th!