A city without a chamber of commerce isn’t whole. In Raymondville, that essential piece was missing before a long-standing community leader returned to revive a dormant organization. 

Elma Chavez was running her own business in Raymondville when city leaders approached her early this year. Their suggestion was more of a plea. She had retired five years prior from her post as executive director of the Raymondville Chamber. The community needed Chavez’s return to kick start the chamber after its operations were shut down in 2020.

“We want you to come back,” she recalled being told by city leaders. “No one else would know where to start.”

Chavez enjoyed owning her own business in town, a boutique, but admitted to missing her old job, which she held for 18 years.

“It didn’t take a lot of convincing,” she said of going back to chamber work. “I got a second chance and I took it.”

Back at the chamber’s helm for six months, Chavez has been a whirl of activity. She’s getting volunteer organizations going while also reaching out to local businesses to let them know an essential organization is back in business.

“It’s not good for a community to be without a chamber,” she said. “A lot of times you’re the only face people see of our town. We were missing that piece.”

Getting Essentials In Place

Chavez’s office at Raymondville’s Rural Technical Center is a work in progress like the job at hand.

“There is so much to do and so much to be done,” she said.

A first essential item on the to-do list was reconstituting a board of directors. Rebuilding the chamber’s membership from scratch and having a team of volunteer ambassadors out in the community were also essential building blocks. The word was then shared about the value of having the chamber back. 

“There’s power in numbers,” Chavez said of her allies in the community. 

She lauds the contributions of the chamber’s 24 volunteer ambassadors who accompany the executive director to ribbon cuttings and grand openings. Chavez speaks from personal experience of the importance of recognizing local businesses as they work to get a footing.

“I’ve been a business owner, so I know what it means to be acknowledged as a business in our community,” Chavez said. 

She has also reached out to area youth in recruiting high school students to form a junior ambassadors program. Chavez sees it as a way of building young leaders while also developing their interest in community life. Taken together, the ambassador programs are helping to rewrite the narrative of Raymondville, a community set apart, north of the Valley’s network of cities along Expressway 77/83.

“We need people to invest in Raymondville and see what we’re really about,” Chavez said.

Making Its Presence Known

A new look at Raymondville would show an emerging chamber building partnerships with local businesses and governmental entities. 

Chavez highlights the chamber’s work in seeking donations of box fans in helping families get through the hot summer. Over 300 fans were donated by the Raymondville Chamber of Commerce. The items were picked up by nonprofit organizations and county government and then distributed to Willacy County households. 

There are also monthly workshops the chamber is hosting in conjunction with Prairie View A&M’s community and economic development program. Topics such as business planning, product quality and distribution, and financial forecasting are among the session topics assisting small businesses in Willacy County. It’s all part of rebuilding the Raymondville Chamber of Commerce, of which Chavez credits board president Andrew Maldonado and his fellow board members for their contributions.

“We only do happy in this office,” she said of the rebuilding effort. “We see the positives here, we have a lot of open land and potential here.”

Chavez’s small business is still active, but these days the executive director who is grateful for her second chance is looking ahead to what her organization and community can do.

“I feel like we’re in a good place,” she said.