The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Taking care of business
PUBLISHED: March 1, 2007
Bristle, Turners honored by Chelsea Chamber with Leadership Awards
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The Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce presented its annual Business Leadership Awards during the Annual Meeting Feb. 15 at the Comfort Inn.
The award has been presented by the Chamber for five years.
Previous winners were: Chelsea Area Transportation and Heydlauff's Appliances and Electronics in 2002; Vogel's and Fosters and Chelsea Community Hosptial in 2003; Chelsea Gallery and Chelsea Milling in 2004; and Gigi's Flowers & Gifts and Thompson's Pizza in 2005.
The 2006 winners were Mike Bristle, owner of Norm's Body Shop, for the small business award and Robert and Kara Turner, owners of the Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory, for the large business award.
The Ambassador Club of the Chamber oversees this award. They solicit for nominations, vote by secret ballot for the winners, and then present their selection to the Board of Directors for their approval. Nominations begin in October and the winners are selected in January.
The following were the introductory speeches for the two winners by Chamber President Steve Olsen.
Small Business Award: Mike Bristle, Norm's Body Shop
Mike Bristle is one of the quiet, behind the scenes supporters of the Chelsea community.
He is one of those community members who makes an impact on our daily lives as a part of his everyday. He let's his contributions speak for themselves. Despite the fact that his business is outside the city limits, you might have seen Mike around town painting the Lion's Eyeglass Drop Boxes. You might have noticed at the Community Fair that the Elephant Ear Wagon sported a new coat of paint – again, Mike was responsible for tackling the job.
Mike generously donates to every auction, including those held at Chelsea Center for the Arts and the St. Louis Center. Chelsea sports teams benefit from Mike's generosity and he is a longtime sponsor of local bowling teams. Mike's willingness to help reaches into other facets of our community. He has provided transportation for our special needs high school students to the prom.
Mike, through Norm's Body Shop, has been an avid supporter of the Chamber and our events. He is one of the sponsors for our golf outing and he also fields a team for the event. His sponsorships for other events are equally generous.
A quiet man with a big heart, Mike is always there to support the Chamber and our entire community.
Large Business Award: Robert and Kara Turner, owners of the Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory
Robert and Kara Turner have been Chelsea business owners for more than 10 years. They opened their business, Midwest College Marketing Group, in a small storefront location on Main Street and through hard work and good business decisions quickly outgrew that location. They made a commitment to Chelsea by being one of the first businesses to locate in the ClockTower complex where the Teddy Bear Company was created and developed.
The Teddy Bear Company has become a strong regional draw to Chelsea, bringing bus loads of potential shoppers.
Robert and Kara have supported the community through generous contributions, both private and public. The Teddy Bear Company has been a generous participant and sponsor of the Chelsea Light Parade and Community Sing during the Hometown Holiday celebration. They are responsible for the "Helper Club" at Chelsea Hospital, which provides teddy bears to hospitalized children.
They started the "Great Bear Cub Run" to give children that have shown exceptional courage in life the opportunity to run through the factory and collect as many bears as they can carry. The Turners have supported the Chamber by co-sponsoring our very successful holiday Business After Hours.
The Turner's generosity has reached well beyond Chelsea. When the Howell, Michigan Salvation Army was broken into and all the Christmas presents were stolen just before Christmas; 1,000 bears from the Teddy Bear Company arrived in Howell to be distributed by the Salvation Army. In the aftermath of Katrina, over $10,000 worth of bears and other stuffed animals were shipped to the victims of this devastating storm.
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