DYERSVILLE, Iowa — Jeff’s Auto Service Inc. took home Business of the Year honors at the recent Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce annual meeting at New Vienna Community Center.
“These businesses treat their employees like family, because some of them really are family. They are humble. They give you a straightforward answer, whether you want the good news or the bad news. You will witness this business giving back to the community through donations, supporting employee training and volunteering and mentoring students aspiring to become mechanics,” Executive Director of the Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce Karla Thompson said.
The Reinert family accepted the award.
“We wouldn’t be here without family to begin with. We’ve had a lot of family involved with our business,” Jeff Reinert said upon accepting the award.
The Reinerts’ business was chosen by their peers in the community.
“We’re just proud that the community recognized us,” Jeff Reinert said.
“Everybody’s very deserving and we just thought, ‘Wow,’” Carmen Reinert added.
In addition to the award, the chamber’s meeting was also a time for the organization to reflect on the year gone by. President Mitch Tauke said the organization built memberships, conducted ribbon cuttings and 19 business visits, had 265 people order from the Chamber Chowdown and saw $46,000 in chamber bucks spent.
Tauke also touched on a handful of chamber initiatives, like networking opportunities and the start of career exploration opportunities for students.
“It’s a way to get kids into businesses, talk to business owners and people in the real world so maybe they can see something that isn’t as mainstream of an occupation,” Tauke said. “There might be a job right in their backyard that they didn’t know about.”
That’s not the only initiative aimed at area kids, as the Dyersville Farmers Market is teaming up with Dubuque-based Project Rooted.
“(Project Rooted) will get fifth- and sixth-grade students a $5 coupon they can take to the Farmers Market, purchase something and then, with that, make something to bring to school,” Tauke said, “It’s a fun way to let them manage their money a little bit and then … get engaged with the Farmers Market a little bit.”
Tauke also touched on a survey sent out to new residents to learn why they came to the area.
“One thing that I found pretty interesting is almost 60% of the people moving to Dyersville are from outside of Iowa or at least outside of the surrounding communities,” he said. “I think that says a lot about our community as a whole, that people choose Dyersville over a lot of the bigger cities in the area.”