Area businesses have shot at $5,000

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WORTHINGTON — Area businesses each have a chance to win $5,000.

Through a giveaway with the television program “Our Story: Small town living at its best,” 200 regional businesses will have an opportunity for the grand prize.

A few years ago, a simple TV show began.

“We wanted to do something extra to help promote our town and our businesses, so we decided to do a TV show,” said Jeff Rouse, executive producer of the show. “We went ahead and did it and we did it in our own community and put it on the Internet. Much to our surprise, when it hit the Internet, businesses and towns from all over started contacting us saying, ‘We love what you’re doing for your town, why can’t you do it for ours?’”

Five years later, the show has featured 110 towns and is shown in 1.3 million households in a four-state area.

“It’s grown by quite a bit,” Rouse said.

With their success, the organization wanted to give back to small businesses.

“We wanted to make a difference in their business,” he said. “All these small businesses, in my humble opinion, are working very hard to make a difference in their communities. If there is any way that we can help them, I think it’s safe to say everyone wants to do that whenever possible.”

Rouse and the volunteer group for the show wanted to make a difference for a small business. Cash was the obvious choice.

So an idea was born.

A total of 200 businesses were chosen to participate, including from Worthington, Adrian, Luverne and Windom.

Businesses will be awarded the cash prize based on online voting at www.giveaway.ourstorymn.com.

The voting opened on April 1 and will run the entire month, with the money to be presented a few days after the voting is finished.

“When they win, there is no strings attached to their $5,000,” Rouse said. “They can use it for however they see fit. I will say, some of the people in the giveaway have said their plans are to give it to a non-profit or a cause in their own community.”

Here is a list of the businesses within the area:

Worthington: Pawn It Inc., McCarthy’s Floral, Schafer’s Health & Gifts, Johnson Jewelry, Schwalbach Ace Hardware

Adrian: Adrian State Bank, Sports Page Bar, Country Inn Steakhouse, Closet to Closet.

Luverne: Those Blasted Things & Luverne Monuments, Luverne Area Chamber, Luverne Farm Show, Glenn’s Food Store.

Windom: Bank Midwest, River City Eatery, BC/CB & Co, Frank’s Shoe Repair, Schwalbach Ace Hardware, Prairie Quilting, Jordana’s, Windom Chamber, Funding Windom

To vote, visit www.giveaway.ourstorymn.com.

Daily Globe Community Content Coordinator Aaron Hagen can be reached at 376-7323.

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