Chairman giving Searcy chamber a face-lift
SEARCY — The small-town atmosphere of Searcy has always been appealing to Steve Foster.
“This is where I grew up and where my family was located,” Foster said. “When you are younger, the grass is always greener, but I wanted to come home, and I felt like Searcy was a better place. That’s how I ended up back here.”
Foster was appointed chairman of the board for the Searcy Regional Chamber of Commerce in January, after serving as vice president last year. He said one of the things that makes Searcy attractive is its friendly nature.
“I know a lot of people in Searcy, and they are all friendly and helpful,” he said. “I have a lot of friends from high school who still live here. It is a good place to raise children and has a good value system. “This city is very family-oriented.” Foster has two businesses in the community of Searcy and has participated as a member of the chamber. He has owned Bulldog Aviation, a flight school for helicopter pilots, since 2002, and he has also owned Expert Auto Claims in Searcy since 1991.
“We are an appraisal company for automobiles for catastrophic losses,” Foster said. “We go in and appraise the damage on the vehicles.”
Foster started flying when he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and he said it was something he always enjoyed. After college, he used an airplane for his auto claim business, so when the opportunity arose for him to own a flight school, he took advantage of it.
Foster was recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration as Flight Instructor of the Year for Arkansas in 2010.
He is originally from Searcy, having graduated from Searcy High School in 1971. He attended what was then the State College of Arkansas, now the University of Central Arkansas, in Conway, but graduated from Park University in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1978. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps between high school and college, and he was stationed in California, North Carolina and Cuba.
He said the current coronavirus pandemic has changed the priorities of a lot of businesses, including the chamber.
“We have had to figure out what we
could do to be of service to our membership and move in that direction,” Foster said. “We have a COVID-19 resource page on our website, and that seems to be very helpful.
“We have had to change gears and try to get out as much information as possible through different resources, including our weekly emails — anything we can do to help our membership is what we focus on.”
Buck Wayne has been president of the chamber since 1991.
“Steve is a quiet leader who doesn’t make a lot of noise, but he makes a big splash when he hits the water,” Wayne said.
“We talk several times a week about what is going on in the chamber and how to serve our community,” Wayne said. “He mentioned our resource page and emails, but he is also calling our chamber members and talking to them and seeing to their needs.
“Steve has been more than gracious, and he is willing to participate with everything we have done in the chamber.”
Wayne said that even though he has been with the chamber for such a long time, he has never been in a position like this, but he said it has been gratifying how the chamber and the community have come together.
“We are trying to encourage people to use the takeout services or buy a gift card — do anything we can to help these restaurants. “We want them to be able to continue to operate and be able to come back strong,” Wayne said.
“Our hotels are being devastated right now, too, so we are trying to pull together and help any way we can,” Wayne said.
“The members have responded favorably to what we have been doing,” Foster said. “We are providing a lot of information that is financially oriented, including the [Paycheck Protection Program] and the [Economic Injury Disaster Loan] program, and letting our members know how to apply for those different government programs that are available to them.”
Wayne said Foster has also really taken charge in helping to refurbish and upgrade the chamber facilities.
“We’ve changed out the carpet in our board room and painted the walls and updated our audio and visual equipment,” Wayne said. “Our building was built in 1990, and we are redoing everything from a cosmetic standpoint.”
Tara Cathey, vice president of the Searcy Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the cost of the renovations were in the tens of thousands, and she said Foster led the charge and helped make it happen by helping to raise the funds needed.
“I think Steve’s best quality is that he is a tried-and-true leader,” she said. “He comes up with a plan, and he makes it happen.
“There aren’t a lot of people who operate like that. He is steady and aggressive.”
For more information on the chamber and its response to COVID-19, visit the chamber’s website at www.searcychamber.com.
“During this pandemic, Steve has been calling members and encouraging other board members to be actively involved and also running his two businesses,” Cathey said. “He has proven to be a great leader.”
Foster said a crisis, such as this, has a tendency to unite people.
“That’s the way Searcy has always been. It pulls people together, and we try to help each other,” Foster said.
“It proves the quality and the nature of the type of city that we live in,” Cathey said. “Our community genuinely cares about the well-being here and is willing to help each other be sustainable during this time.
“We are helping first responders, buying gift cards and trying to continue to do business. We are also helping the nonprofits and picking up groceries and delivering them to those in need. Searcy really is a wonderful community.”