The Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation hosted its monthly event, Women in Business, which focuses on female business owners and community activists at the Penn-Kidder Library Center.

Barbara Franzosa, a business owner for over 30 years. was the speaker.Franzosa started the Penn-Kidder Library and Pine Point Plaza on Route 903 in Albrightsville.Alice Wanamaker, CCEDC member relations director, said, "We focus on women who are really involved with the community, not just business owners. All the women at the lunches are involved in organizations besides their businesses.""It's important to hold these women's lunches, it's still difficult out there for women in business. That's why it's so important for women to get together like this," Franzosa said.Twenty women gathered in the newly rearranged nonprofit Penn-Kidder Library Center located in the Pine Point Plaza.The plaza was built in 1988 by Franzosa and her brother James Smith."We always strive to get tenants to fill a need in the community," she said."We're far from everything. We're 14 miles from the nearest library," she told the women. "People say libraries are obsolete, and let me tell you, they are not. We are on a volunteer basis, all public funding."According to Franzosa, the library, started in 2013, also doubles as a mini-career center for residents."We help a lot with career services because there is nothing in the area."The women's lunches serve an important function for networking and education."It's a wonderful networking tool," Franzosa said. "When you first open a new business there is very little time to meet other people. You'll meet resources you need but didn't have before.""I always look for information from others' experience, especially when it's someone so accomplished. The lunches are very educational," said Collen Dykas, owner of Mrs. Domestic Cleaning Service in Lake Harmony."Barbara really helps the community. She has worked very hard on the library."Also in attendance was the chamber's Life Time Achievement award winner Joan Turko of Turko Specialty Advertising along with township supervisor Thomas LaFond.Franzosa will also be a 2015 chamber award winner, taking home the Volunteer of the Year award during the chamber's annual dinner Friday. The December Women In Business lunch will be held at the Everything Nice shop on Broadway in Jim Thorpe.