The New Castle County Chamber of Commerce honored J.C. Boggs, State Sen. Margaret Rose Henry and Esther Rich at its annual dinner Monday night.
Henry received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the chamber Henry is leaving her post in the State Senate after serving since 1994. She is the first African-American woman to serve in the State Senate and serves as Majority Leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
Boggs, a prominent Washington, D.C lawyer and member of a prominent Delaware family, was honored for his work at Jobs for Delaware Graduates, an organization that has been replicated in nearly three-dozen states.
He is the grandson of J. Caleb Boggs, who served as Congressman, Senator, and Governor.
Rich was named Ambassador of the Year, an award that goes to a member of the County Chamber Ambassadors. Ambassadors work as volunteers to retain and gain new chamber members.
In 2016, Rich launched Special Touch Card Creations. The business creates personalized greeting and thank you cards for businesses and other customers.
Keynote speaker for the dinner was There du Pont, president of the Longwood Foundation, Wilmington.
In his remarks, du Pont urged businesspeople who serve on boards of nonprofits to provide advice and counsel on finding sources of income that might lie within the organization.
Du Pont offered the example of an organization that operated a thrift store with ample inventories but was seeking funding from Longwood to make up for reduced state funding.
An experiment that lowered prices at the thrift store produced additional income without an increase in expenses. However, the experiment was dropped after a month.
The Longwood Foundation President did not go any further on the status of the nonprofit’s request but did not blame its chief executive for stopping the thrift store experiment.
Du Pont said that anyone on the board with a business background should have pushed to continue the new strategy for the store. Such advice would improve the financial outlook for many nonprofits, he said.
