The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce wrapped up its 19th Shop St. Joseph program on Thursday by presenting two oversized checks to two big winners at two small businesses.
This is the third year that besides the $10,000 grand prize the program has offered a Shop Small Business Bonus. This addition is a $2,500 prize given away from a business with 10 or fewer employees. But, for the third year in a row, the grand prize has been from a small business.
“We started the Shop Small Business Bonus because residents were weary of winners always coming from larger places and to provide an extra incentive for shoppers to try small businesses,” said Natalie Hawn, President and CEO of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. “It’s funny how the luck of the draw has had the grand prize come from a small business every year the Small Business Bonus has existed.”
This year’s grand prize winner is Jackie Miller, a teacher from St. Joseph, who got the winning ticket at Narrative Home on Sunday.
“I shop local a lot,” she said. “I get my makeup at Merle Norman, I shop at Lavender Lane, I eat at Pronto Cafe. So Sunday my youngest daughter and I went to Narrative Home. I bought a shirt, a skirt and earrings.”
Miller said she grew up on an orchard in Amazonia, so she knows how important it is for local people to support local. She said her father always made Christmas special in part by decorating outside. She loves all of the nostalgic St. Joseph items that Narrative Home carries.
She and her husband have four kids, three teen girls and a 7-year-old boy whose birthday is today. She is an assistant teacher for pre-K through second grade music and plans to donate part of the winnings to a child-related local charity.
The Shop Small Business Bonus was presented to Billie Sue Wall at Quality Hearing & Audiology Center. The St. Joseph native said she’s participated in Shop St. Joseph every year and had tickets from a lot of merchants.
“Heather told me this was the winning ticket,” she joked. “She told everybody that.”
Wall is a mother and grandmother and used to own the Ferris Wheel restaurant in Savannah, Mo. She later worked in the Hy-Vee Floral Department and Butchart Flowers & Gifts before retiring. She plans to give all of the prize money to charity.
As another Shop St. Joseph ends, we’re reminded that the real winner of the Shop St. Joseph program is the local economy. Nearly 2 million tickets were distributed, which gives an idea of how much spending was done related to the program.
“While we love to give money away and make individuals winners, the real goal is to help local businesses and employers earn profits that help sustain them for the rest of the year,” Hawn said.
The checks were presented by representatives of Narrative Home, Quality Hearing & Audiology Center, the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce and the presenting sponsor, First Option Bank.
More than 60 merchants also chose to give away second chance prizes. Those prize numbers are available on the Chamber’s website. Those winners have 30 days to claim the prize directly from that merchant.