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Bruder Hill in Berlin moves closer to $100,000 grant goal

(June 18, 2015) Bruder Hill breezed through the first phase of Chase Bank’s Mission Main Street Grants program this week, racking up enough votes to move on to phase two and remain in the running for the $100,000 prize.
The Berlin shop needed 250 social media votes by Friday in order to advance. By Tuesday morning, Bruder Hill had amassed 278 votes.
Under the contest, 20 winning grant recipients each receive the top cash prize, along with a trip to LinkedIn headquarters, a premier sponsor of the program.
Berlin Economic and Community Development Director Ivy Wells, who also runs the Berlin Main Street program, said she discovered the grant opportunity in her email inbox.
“I get a lot of emails because we’re a Main Street, and then I saw that and I sent it out to the businesses hoping at least one of them would want to go for it and Bruder Hill did,” she said.
Shelly Bruder, owner of the Berlin boutique, said the opportunity was a no-brainer.
“I thought, ‘Why not,’” she said. “Let’s give it a try.”
The application consisted of a brief questionnaire, Bruder said, including how her business plan would change if she won the grant. In her case, the money would help convert the shop’s garage into a shipping facility to accommodate its new sales website, as well as provide a meeting space.
“We’re working on the online part of the store right now, so we’re hoping to hire extra people,” Bruder said. “And then, we also want to make a space for the community to have different meetings for free.”
Bruder’s drive to reach 250 votes included an email newsletter to customers, printed handouts and “tons of social media” activity, she said.
“We’ve also been going around town talking to everybody we know, asking them to support us,” she added.
Wells said radio station Ocean 98’s Main Street sponsorship provided additional support for Bruder Hill during the campaign.
“I made sure that each of the deejays were talking about it,” she said, adding that the town and Berlin Main Street’s social media sites plugged the grant as well.
The next phase of the application process will include a series of panelists, who will make the final decision based on the written applications. Bruder hopes her entry pushes the shop over the top.  
“I talked about Berlin being the ‘Coolest Small Town’ and how our community all works together and really promotes each other,” she said. “I also talked about how the building is in a historic  district, and how great it would be to fix it up.  I’m so excited to be doing this.”
Results will be made public in September.