While the pool may have been closed due to thunder, spirits were certainly not dampened at the BNI get-together on Wednesday, August 7.
It was a night to celebrate the achievements of Business Networking International’s Morning Money Makers Chapter in Brooklyn with a Hawaiian themed dance party at the Fort Hamilton Army Base Community Center.
The event was co-hosted by BNI-MMM Chapter President Brian Chin and coordinator Walter Ochoa. Chin is the branch manager and vice president of Northfield Bank and Ochoa owns the homecare agency Right at Home.
The BNI Morning Money Makers Chapter is a group of business professionals that meet every week for the purpose of referring business to each other. The chapter has done over $3 million in closed business in the past. According to Chin, BNI’s Mission is to help people increase their business through a word-of-mouth marketing program.
The leadership team consists of Chin, Vice-President Amy Schoenfeld and Secretary-Treasurer Jennifer Santo.
The MMM Chapter was founded 10 years ago by Re/Max elite realtor Julie Thum.
“I have made so many great connections which also wonderfully turned into friendships,” Thum told this paper. “These are the people I can honestly trust with my referrals and at the same time with whom I have a strong enough bond to ask for their help when I need it and they’ll always be there for me. That’s what our MMM chapter means to me.”
Music was provided by Tony Travis and Friends who performed a long list of pop favorites to the enthusiastic crowd, including Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans” and John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
Danielle Bruzese, director of marketing and communications for CaringKind Alzheimer’s, was presented with a $600 check from BNI for her organization. “This means a lot to me personally because I started at CaringKind not really knowing what Alzheimer’s and dementia meant, and 14 years later, I am not only an employee but I am also a client.”
She explained that CaringKind has been serving the five boroughs for over 40 years. She called it a local charity with a wide reach. “We have about 90,000 people in our database, and we have over 100,000 people in our tracking system,” she said.
“So although we are still a local organization our reach is large. And we offer all of our programs and services for Alzheimer’s and dementia free of charge. So no matter what your financial situation is, you can come to CaringKind and receive everything without paying a dime.”
“As the president of the BNI: Morning Money Makers chapter, I’m pleased to announce that we had a successful Hawaiian themed pool party,” Chin told this paper.
“Our fellow members, business professionals and business owners enjoyed a nice evening of networking and helping raise money for a good cause. We all had a good old fun time together,” he added.
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