By RYAN SKAITH
St. Joseph Post
The winners of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce's 'Shop St. Joseph' program have been announced.
26-year old Ethan Bennett, of St. Joseph, won the grand prize of $10,000. He was presented the check Thursday afternoon at Murphy's Smokin' Meats and Catering, which is the restaurant where he received the winning ticket.
Bennett says he plans to use some of the winnings to help his grandmother have a nice Christmas. "My grandma has dementia and we wanted to get her something really nice for the holidays. As of right now, we're just making sure we're talking to the proper people and making sure we're handling this correctly."
Bennett, a small business owner himself, says his family likes supporting local businesses. He is the owner of EWB Co., an online hunting and lifestyle clothing store.
Dale and Annette Murphy, owners of Murphy's Smokin' Meats and Catering say they're thrilled the winning ticket came from their business. "We're very excited. For us being a new business, we've only had our brick and mortar opened for about a year, but we've had our business since 2015. Having the winning ticket makes it that much better."
Murphy's Smokin' Meats and Catering is located at 1930 Commercial Street.
The other big winner for Shop St. Joseph was Julie Turner, who claimed the $2,500 Shop Small Business Bonus ticket at Niche of Time Jewelry.
Turner was a first-time shopper at the store, saying, "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."
Turner adds, "I was shocked when I saw my ticket matched the winning number."
The presenting sponsor for Shop St. Joseph is First Option Bank.
There are still several second-chance prizes ready to be claimed. For a list of the second-chance prize winning numbers, visit here.
Those with the winning tickets have 30 days to go to the place of business itself to claim the prize.