It's something that brings area businesses and people together to benefit the community at large. Officials in Broome County kicked off Chamber of Commerce Week on Monday in Binghamton. As our Elyse Mickalonis explains, they say it also provides a way to inform the public and other businesses about what the chamber does for the community.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. -- Broome County Executive Debbie Preston proclaims this Chamber of Commerce Week. And the chamber is ready to live up to that billing with events planned all week, from a seminar on saving energy to a Red Cross blood drive.

“We do this each year. We celebrate what chambers of commerce mean to our community and the nation. We’ve got a lot of programs ready for this week, but we also have a lot through the year,” said Lou Santoni, Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce President.

Preston added, “I was unaware of everything the chamber did until the last few years. I think there’s still a lot of businesses and people that still don’t know what they do.”

Officials say this week is important because it shows people and local businesses exactly what role the chamber plays in the community. Chamber President Lou Santoni says that role depends on the needs of the chamber's members. If there's a program they need to be more successful, the chamber finds a way to make that happen.

"I believe in the public and private relationships in order to establish businesses coming in. We all need to work together to bring more businesses in and the chamber does that," said Preston.

Santoni added, “We put on a lot of events that aren’t business-related events, but that are for the betterment of the community. For example, our Thanksgiving Luncheon, which sells out every year. It’s a way to thank individuals and organizations for all they’ve done throughout the year.”

And Preston says another way the Greater Binghamton Chamber’s programs and events are special to the area is all they do in terms of helping businesses during flood recovery efforts.

"Everything Broome County has been through with the disasters, I think that makes it more unique, because as a community, we see how dedicated the businesses and people are in the county. I think that's the difference,” said Preston.

Providing ways to better businesses in Binghamton.

For more information on the events happening this week, head to, greaterbinghamtonchamber.com.