Chamber holds first Coffee & Commerce gathering

By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press

Businesspeople gathered on Friday morning to chat, make connections, and enjoy some morning coffee.
The Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce held its first “Coffee & Commerce” at Amy’s Attic 8:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. Snacks and coffee were provided at the event. 
Nicholas Haffter Von Heide with Fresh Pressed Coffee provided three blends of coffee for the event.
Lisa Sherwood, property manager for Amy’s Attic in Copperas Cove, said she wanted to hold the event in Copperas Cove after seeing the success of a similar event in Harker Heights. She said that she’s more than happy to host the events until other businesses want to host them. 
“Some businesses cannot go to the nighttime mixers, so I thought maybe in the morning before everything opened up, they could come here, network, we could have a guest speaker, and we could all learn,” said Sherwood.
“This is awesome. Coffee and chitchat, I love it!” said Maureen Sapp, with Bring Everyone into the Zone. “This is the perfect way to start your day.”
The guest speaker for Friday’s event was Eric Armstrong, president of National United Bank in Copperas Cove. 
Future Coffee & Commerce events will feature different volunteer speakers talking about business issues, personal growth, and more.
Armstrong talked about National United, founded in 1889, and services the bank offers to both individuals and to the community. A new feature that the bank hopes to offer to the public in the near future is a command center mobile unit for community events. The vehicle will come with an ATM, vault, tv for videos, service window, and more.
“We’re community first here,” said Armstrong. “We’re doing it because we’re truly involved in where we are.”
“The goal was simple—to give business owners, people in the community, movers and shakers together to just communicate and network in a non-formal fashion that just allows you guys to get to know each other,” said interim chamber president Maurice Tobin. “There’s a lot of resources in Cove…and we’ve seen the need to bring us together.”