The Richmond County Chamber of Commerce will hold its 27th annual meeting Thursday to honor members, ambassadors and the Citizen of the Year.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Cole Auditorium at Richmond Community College.

Chamber President Emily Tucker will preside over the opening and will begin by honoring the chamber’s Ambassador of the Year.

Chamber ambassadors are chamber members who volunteer to assist new members by helping them network. They also attend special events to make sure members are getting the most out of the chamber.

The ambassador program began last year, and the nominees for the award are submitted and voted on by the chamber’s 430 members. The winner will not be announced until the annual meeting.

Following that presentation, 2009 board chairman Scott Leonard will recognize the outgoing board and give recognition to the 2010 officers and directors. He’ll go over the 2009 annual report before introducing the 2010 board chair, Marchelle Adams-David, the city manager of Hamlet.

The business meeting will wrap up with the award for Richmond County Chamber’s Citizen of the Year Award, going this year to Rep. Melanie Goodwin.

Goodwin has been in Richmond County since 1998 when she married her husband Wayne Goodwin. She has served as president of the Democratic Women of Richmond County, president of the Richmond County Junior Women’s Club, served on the Art’s Council board and the First United Methodist Church Women’s Circle. She served on the founding board of the Christian Closet, was vice chair of what is now New Horizons and was a board appointee to the Sandhills Area Mental Health Board.

Goodwin has worked in the county as a practicing lawyer and has served in the N.C. House of Representatives for three terms.

Following the Citizen of the Year Award, around 7:30 p.m., everyone will head to the banquet hall where they will be greeted by the “beachy” tunes of The Catalinas, and have refreshments and light hor d’ourves.

Tickets for the banquet are $30 and are available at the chamber office. For more information on the banquet, contact the chamber at (910) 895-9058

Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.