With the theme “Red Bricks to Progress,” the Oxford Chamber of Commerce recently held its annual meeting and awards program celebrating its history and work helping to build the community.

While touting the community as a “great place to live, work and play,” members of the chamber celebrated their past, but also took time for the present and honored the Oxford Kroger Store as their Business of the Year.

Scott Shriver served as master of ceremonies for the event, held at the Knolls of Oxford, and he pointed proudly to his past relationship with the community, saying he has been a resident of Oxford for 50 years.

“It is my hometown, where I’ve grown up, been educated, gotten married, raised my children, where I’ve spent my career as a teacher and where I plan to retire,” Shriver said. “For me, and I suspect for each of us here tonight, home is where the heart is. My heart belongs to Oxford.”

The theme for the evening, he said, was “Red Bricks to Progress: Celebrating a City Dedicated to building a Foundation One Brick at a Time.”

In keeping with that theme, the chamber honored The Chamber MBA program, City of Oxford, Miami University, the Oxford Visitors Bureau and Talawanda School District for efforts at community building and their “dedication to uniting a city one brick at a time.”

Attorney James G. Robinson gave a brief history of the chamber and spoke of its growth from an organization to represent the business community to joining in community efforts with those organizations and others to improve life in Oxford.

He said a significant event in that effort was the 1980s “Future of Oxford” report in which 34 citizens met for a year to review and to inquire as to the ideas of community members; listen to developing plans at Miami University, the hospital and school district; and to hear the thoughts of then-current officeholders.

“The chamber now had a long-range plan, with achievable goals,” Robinson said. “Over the years, since the Future of Oxford Report, many of the recommendations in the report have been implemented and we, as citizens, are better for it.”

Events such as the summer Music Festival, Red Brick and Ivy Initiative, the wine festival and Pig Roast welcoming event all grew from the impetus of the community building started by the report, he said.

“Collectively, these events brought city government, the chamber and other groups and individuals together working for a common purpose,” Robinson said. “They all, in their own way, showcase our community and bring visitors and consumers to enjoy our city.”

Red bricks were presented to those community organizations in recognition of their joint efforts to make Oxford better.

Chamber members also presented its annual Business of the Year award, recognizing the Oxford Kroger store.

Chamber board vice chair Mike Rudolph presented the organization’s top business award, calling the Kroger store both a place to shop and a social gathering spot in the community. He praised store manager Ed Begley for help with events he coordinated for the Oxford Kiwanis Club but also such community events as Relay for Life, school PTG events, the Luna Cares Fund, Little League, DeFleurs Garden Club, Cub packs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and a host of others.

“This community engagement is no accident,” Rudolph said. “It is a culture of the Oxford Kroger Store. It is also no accident that many of the store management and employees are recognized regularly as community leaders.”

He cited the case of store employee Sharon Wireback who was one of the Citizens of the Years honored in 2012.

Rudolph quoted Begley as saying, “The more events going on in our store, the better our store is.”

He also noted that the store is environmentally friendly, composting old produce using recycling bins and then giving those funds to Shared Harvest Food Bank, which benefits the Oxford Community Choice Pantry.

“Our Oxford Kroger was the first to provide these services in the Kroger chain and now 25 other stores have followed suit,” Rudolph said.