There are people who know that something needs to be changed.

And then there are people who know that something needs to change, and they do something about it.Those "doers" met Wednesday night at the annual dinner for the Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce, held at Mountain Valley Golf Course in Ryan Township.At the dinner members and guests celebrated the accomplishments and future hopes of the Tamaqua area, and recognized local people who have taken actions to effect change.Amanda Woodring, recipient of the Joseph M. Plasko Citizenship Award, and Lynn Elko, Business Person of the Year, are two of those people.Six years ago, Woodring, a teacher for the Tamaqua Area School District, learned that the family of one of her students was having a difficult time making ends meet, especially as the holiday season neared."I knew that something had to be done," Woodring recalled. "I realized that little boys and girls were going to be waking up with nothing."Since then Woodring has devoted her free time to helping less fortunate families in Tamaqua. She also supports a variety of community organizations.Elko manages Emma's Friends Soaps & Lotions, a business which employs people with special needs. It's named for her daughter, Emma, who has various disabilities. The business is located at the Flat Iron Building in downtown Tamaqua.Guest speaker Jarrett Laubach, who works for City Center, Lehigh Valley, detailed the progress made in Allentown as a result of the establishment of a neighborhood improvement zone, a special taxing district that encourages development and revitalization.Last year, Tamaqua became a city revitalization and improvement zone, with 297 properties identified and able to use returning state tax dollars as financing. The Tamaqua CRIZ financing authority will receive any new sales tax, corporate net income tax, capital stock and franchise tax, bank shares tax and liquor sales tax which is above the amounts collected in 2014, which is the baseline year."Tamaqua needed a shot in the arm," said Sen. Dave Argall. "The CRIZ may be one of the best things to happen since Burkhardt Moser (a Tamaqua founder) built the saw mill."Argall said that although 349 boroughs in Pennsylvania were eligible to apply for the CRIZ, Tamaqua was successful because of the dedication of its leaders, who spent two years on the application process. Also, Argall said, improvements to Tamaqua such as the renovated Train Station,

T.I.D.E. (Tamaqua Industrial Development) business park, revitalized store fronts and the transformation of a former junior high school into LCCC, a community college, were proof that the town's residents knew how to work together to follow projects to completion.Chamber President Rich Shupp said that the borough is poised to grow, with the chamber more involved than ever."We will have more events this year than we've ever had, with training seminars, mixers and other events," Shupp said. "The chamber is involved in every downtown activity, sometimes behind the scenes, to build a stronger community."Schuylkill County Commissioner George Halcovage said that the CRIZ designation will have a positive effect on Tamaqua, and by extension, the county."Tamaqua is poised for great things," Halcovage said. "It will be exciting to watch what's accomplished because of this opportunity."The dinner was sponsored by Wittig CPA, Tamaqua, and ABC Tamaqua Hi-Rise.