When the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce needs reinforcements, it calls upon its ambassadors.

The Chamber Ambassadors program has been around for a long time, and they ensure the Chamber of Commerce’s success, according to Catherine Glover, executive director at the Chamber.

“They’re basically a part, an extension, of the Chamber,” Glover said. “They are a big piece of what we do, and basically how we also accomplish our mission.”

She said the ambassadors have many roles, including attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies, helping with event setup and recognizing and fostering local businesses.

“They’re good business people in the community, and they normally know what’s going on and they’re just helpful,” Glover said. “They’re kind of the eyes and the ears of the Chamber, too.”

For every event an ambassador attends or helps with, he or she receives a certain amount of points. The two ambassadors with the greatest number of points in a year are then awarded the Ambassadors of the Year title, presented at the Chamber’s annual banquet and awards, according to Glover.

This year’s recipients were Alma Friedman and Bob Boulden.

Friedman said she has been involved with the program for a long time, and because she is retired, can devote a lot of her time to it.

She said she has been asked to do anything from attending a ribbon cutting, to operating a booth at the Summer Festival to help raise money, to helping greet attendees at a Chamber event.

“We’re their ambassadors if they need us to do anything,” Friedman said.

Another big part of an ambassador’s job is to recruit new members to the Chamber of Commerce, she said.

For each new member, an ambassador is awarded 300 points, but Glover said the points don’t really matter to the ambassadors.

“Trying to get new members is the big thing,” Friedman said. “There’s just a lot of good about the Chamber; it’s just good networking.”

The ambassadors may only meet quarterly, but they are fixtures at Chamber events all year long.

“I think you know if you have ambassadors, you can always call on them,” Friedman said. “If they don’t come, you know they’ve got tied up at work. … I think it’s more that they know somebody is there if they need help.”

“We really, honestly, couldn’t do it without them,” Glover said.