The Morden Chamber of Commerce will be honouring a number of business and community leaders next month.
The chamber recently announced the award recipients that will be celebrated at the Feb. 8 gala as well as the three finalists for the Business Excellence Award.
The Entrepreneur of the Year Award is going to Lisa Zacharias, owner and operator of Coffee Culture, while the new Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Appelt’s Diamonds.
In addition, the Community Builder Business of the Year honour is going to Access Credit Union, and the Community Builder Organization of the Year is Pembina Valley Child Care Centre.
Meanwhile, the three finalists for the Business Excellence Award are Focal Point Comprehensive Vision Care, Huron Windows, and Fentro Technologies. The winner will be announced at the gala.
Zacharias was very surprised to learn of the award coming her way.
“I was very honoured,” she said. “It means a lot to me that the community has seen the hard work that I’ve done and to be acknowledged like this is a huge thing.”
It has been a lot of time and work to make Coffee Culture succeed since its opening in the fall of 2012, she noted.
“It hasn’t been easy. There’s been a lot of sacrifices over the years, especially when I first started … long hours and all that … so it was really good to be recognized,” she said. “The reward definitely is that the customers keep coming back, and they have become almost like a family to me here.”
“My business has grown over the years, and it continues to grow … and some of my staff have been with me for many years,” noted Zacharias. “It’s been a long time, and I’m still enjoying it. I would like to be not quite so busy … but I’m going to continue to take care of my customers and make sure everybody walks out of here happy.”
The Community Builder Award recognizes significant contributions to the community and its well-being, so that makes the honour particularly meaningful for Access Credit Union.
“As a credit union, supporting the communities where we operate is kind of fundamental to who we are, and it’s a big piece of what Access prides itself on: the involvement in the community,” said chief operating officer Rich Harries. “Being recognized by the Morden chamber is an honour. Across the organization, we’re very proud of it.
“Everything we do, we kind of talk about our members and communities, so to be recognized as community builder by the chamber is something I think that as an organization and obviously Candace Collins and her team at the [Morden] branch should be very proud of,” he added. “It’s nice to be recognized … somebody felt putting our name forward was important, and obviously to be selected as the recipient is something we’re very proud of.”
Meanwhile, Appelt’s is a fitting choice to receive the chamber’s first Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes a significant number of years operating a business in the community and overall service to the community. Appelt’s was founded in Morden in 1938.
Jeff Appelt said his grandfather Benjamin would be so proud.
“It feels like someone’s recognized his legacy, and that’s probably what makes me the most proud … it means a lot that the City of Morden has recognized that as well.
“My grandpa had a career out of it, and my dad had a career out of it. I get to be a part of it, and now my son’s also involved and my daughter’s involved in our family business, so now we’re a fourth generation … I can help continue it on for them.”
Shuana Richards, executive director of Pembina Valley Child Care Centre, said the Organization of the Year Award is very exciting for them.
“We were really happy and honoured to even be nominated,” she said. “I think it’s showing the community how really important child care is in the community, and it’s acknowledging a lot of the hard work that our people are putting into providing child care to the community.”
It is also encouraging at a time when it is such a challenge to meet an overwhelming need, added Richards.
“Our wait list is huge, and the stories of people needing care are heartbreaking,” she said, noting the coming addition of more child care spaces in Morden will help, but “it won’t take long and we will probably be back to having pretty full wait lists.”
The awards gala will take place at the Access Event Centre. Event information and tickets are available online at www.mordenchamber.com.
