As of July 1, Whitehall Area Chamber of Commerce and Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce have merged. The decision to merge comes just nine months from beginning a partnership between the two chambers.

Jessica O’Donnell, senior vice president of central affiliated chambers, and John Ferreira, manager of both Lehigh Valley Mall and Whitehall Mall and a member of the board’s executive committee, spoke with The Press Aug. 2 to discuss the merger.

“Our feeling was this (partnership) is going very well. Why not just accelerate the process?” Ferreira said. “In the meantime, everything has been extremely positive. The Lehigh Valley chamber has been extremely supportive. Our board and our membership have been extremely supportive. Going forward now, we’re in a really good place - for our membership, for Whitehall itself. We’re in a really good place to be involved with the Lehigh Valley chamber and to get their support for what we want to do.”

O’Donnell said the process to begin a merger started with communication with the members about the board’s idea of a possible partnership with Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. When the executive committees of the two chambers met, along with an attorney, a draft was created. Both boards then approved the agreement.

One of the aspects of the agreement that didn’t change was Whitehall Area Chamber of Commerce still being its own chamber. Its office on Third Street in Fullerton will stay.

“We still have an active board here, so even though there’s a full merger, we are still working autonomous,” O’Donnell said. “We have our own set of bylaws. We have our own board. We are still making decisions for this area.”

O’Donnell described the Whitehall chamber as a bottom-up organization.

“The Greater (Lehigh Valley) Chamber (of Commerce) is never telling us what we need to do in our communities. We have the executive power. We, as the decision makers, can plan the events. Now, we just have support from across the Lehigh Valley,” O’Donnell said.

One of the benefits of the partnership was the recent Restaurant Week. Because of various buy-in sponsors, there was advertising across many towns and cities. With the merger now in place, the board is looking forward to even greater, more successful restaurant weeks.

O’Donnell said residents outside of Whitehall even came to the township’s Restaurant Week because of all the marketing for the event. And plans for a winter Restaurant Week are going well, O’Donnell added.

Whitehall chamber’s membership of 250-plus members now has connections with the Lehigh Valley chamber’s membership of 5,000-plus. O’Donnell said this leads to greater business exposure for both groups.

Other benefits of the merger include free newspaper advertising, free radio spots and business referrals.

Additionally, because of this merger, Whitehall Area Chamber of Commerce has access to other grants, such as the Main Street Lehigh Valley Grant. For example, Whitehall Township was awarded money for snowflake decorations along MacArthur Road.

“That was money through the Greater Lehigh Valley (Chamber of Commerce). They’re putting money back on our main streets, so that is a huge benefit,” O’Donnell said. “We had made a promise to our membership and community that we are going to award and put money back into the community. We’re not only a chamber of commerce; we’re a chamber of community.”

The Whitehall board also is looking to invest in philanthropy, a direction the Greater Lehigh Valley board is supportive of, O’Donnell said.

Members of Whitehall Area Chamber of Commerce, who pay dues, will receive an additional three-year cost freeze as of July 1 because of the merger.

Ferreira said there is a new and exciting Lehigh Valley market, a regional approach for the chambers.

“Yes, we are local, but we are really working for this region,” Ferreira said.

“This was a very exciting partnership for us. The fact that after nine months, we were already into a three-year partnership talking about merging - it was like ‘Whoa!’ They believe what our mission is. They see the value in what we’re doing, so it was the missing piece for us,” O’Donnell said. “Whitehall, MacArthur (Road) area is the heart of the Lehigh Valley.”