Four community leaders are invited to give updates on their areas of expertise from their perspectives for a community breakfast meeting at 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Thursday.

The breakfast, called “Our Town,” will be run by the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce and will be at Unique Suites Hotel on 920 West Lincoln Ave.

These speakers are Mayor Larry Rennels, Robert Martin, the Vice President for University Advancement from Eastern, Dr. Josh Bullock, the president of Lake Land College, and Angela Griffin, the CEO and President of Coles Together.

Cindy White, the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, said this is the first time the chamber has ever done this breakfast.

This is not the first time a community update event has happened, however.

White said the event used to be an annual dinner where the mayor would do an update, but they decided to pull out of the dinner.

“It was just because we had the intent to do a community update breakfast,” White said.

Instead of only having the mayor give an update, attendees will now have the opportunity to hear from three new keynote speakers.

Since President Perry was not available, Vice President Martin was asked to speak in his place.

Each of the speakers represents an area from around Charleston.

She said they chose Mayor Rennels because they wanted someone to represent the city, while Martin would represent the university.

“We invited Angela Griffin of Coles Together, which is a county-wide organization, and people are interested in seeing what they do,” White said. “And Lakeland College is important to the area.”

Each presenter will have 8 to 9 minutes to speak and give updates and overviews of what’s going on in their area. There will be a chance for community members to ask any of the speakers questions after the meeting.

“We hope people take advantage of this opportunity,” White said. “They get to hear from 4 people they might not normally hear from. They can even literally ask them a question.”

The ticket price for members of the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce is $20, while tickets for non-members is $30. A buffet breakfast is included with the ticket. Both individual tickets and tickets for tables of 8 are available.

About 100 people are already registered, but people still have another day or so to register.

Those interested in attending can go to the chamber website or by calling the chamber office at 345-7041.

Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].