Wednesday night was a lucky evening for two shoppers who won big in the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce’s annual Shop St. Joseph program. Winners, well-wishers and staff at the local businesses where the tickets came from gathered on Thursday for the ceremonial check presentations.
Ethan Bennett, a college student home in St. Joseph for the holidays, is the $10,000 prize winner. He picked up the winning ticket along with a family lunch from Murphy’s Smokin’ Meats & Catering.
“We have a big family lunch every Saturday,” he said. “Our family has done this for about 30 years now. After Covid we started buying lunch at local restaurants more often than cooking. We like supporting local. Shop St. Joseph is an excellent way to do that. Plus, I own my own small business, so I like to support others.”
The owner of EWB Co., an online hunting and lifestyle clothing store, said he’s participated in Shop St. Joseph ever since he could drive himself to stores.
An important part of the family lunches has always been his grandmother, who now has dementia. When asked what he plans to do with his prize money, he said he definitely wants to get his grandma something nice, give a portion to the church and the rest is to be determined.
“This is all very sudden,” he said. “But Grandma is getting a nice Christmas gift for sure.”
Julie Turner was a first-time shopper at Niche of Time Jewelry when she picked up the lucky $2,500 Shop Small Business Bonus ticket.
“My hairdresser works there part-time and I was looking for a nice pair of earrings, so I thought I’d go check out the store,” she said.
She is very glad she did.
“I was shocked when I saw my ticket matched the winning number,” she said. “I’ve never really won anything. I made my partner read the numbers back to me to make sure I was right.”
Julie, who lives near Stewartsville, says she participates in Shop St. Joseph every year, but never expected to win.
As for plans with what to do with the prize money, she said she doesn’t really have any plans yet. Most of her Christmas shopping was already done, so she’d probably take family out to dinner and tuck the rest away for another occasion.
This is the second year for the Shop Small Business Bonus, where a smaller cash prize is given solely from a merchants with 10 employees or less. However, since the Shop Small Business Bonus started, both the grand prize and smaller prize have come from small businesses.
“Last year the grand prize came from Sisters of Solace and this year it’s from Murphy’s Smokin’ Meats,” said Natalie Hawn. “It’s funny how that happens. We try to ensure at least one prize comes from a small business and then all prizes do. It’s just the luck of the draw.”
However, the big winner of the Shop St. Joseph program is the local economy.
“When residents shop local, and when others travel into St. Joseph to make purchases here for a chance of winning $10,000, those tax dollars stay here and help our city during the rest of the year, as well as help our retailers get into the black,” Hawn said.
The checks were presented at Murphy’s Smokin’ Meats & Catering and Niche of Time Jewelry with representatives from those businesses, the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce and presenting sponsor First Option Bank.