Social Entrepreneur Flies Below the Radar in Texas
Before you can survey the entire chest, you’re quickly greeted by proprietor Teresa Brown, a perpetual motion machine with boundless enthusiasm, disarmingly ready wit and a contagious smile. The Chest of Treasures isn’t your average gift shop, and Teresa Brown definitely isn’t your average small business owner. On any given day patrons may find her just as likely to be dressed in tastefully styled high-fashion dresses and sporting lavishly designed feminine hats (many with accompanying veils) as she is to be wearing country & western denim and cowboy boots. More than likely visitors who return to her shop after their initial trip will find it bearing little resemblance to the way it looked on their last visit. Teresa’s shop reflects her personality; never standing still for long.
Browsing through the Chest of Treasures is a unique experience. The store’s inventory is a fascinating mix of classically timeless antiques, high quality gemstones and hard-to-find specialty items from the US and around the world. A 1940’s style metal cigarette case from Burma with a hand engraved map looks as if dropped straight out of Casablanca. An original photo of Babe Ruth…old Mickey Mouse Comics…period costume jewelry with real rubies and emeralds patiently gleaned after days of rummaging through boxes of garage sale items…they’re all here. Best of all are the gemstones. The shop has scores of them and Teresa, who is an acknowledged expert, is always ready to educate her customers about how to distinguish real quality from overpriced mediocrity.
If the Chest of Treasures were nothing but a novelty shop with interesting antiques and high quality jewelry it would be unusual enough all by itself to warrant a visit. But the store is more; much more. The Chest of Treasures is a reflection of its owner; and that makes it a testimony to immense courage, determination and passionate, unwavering vision. Some would call it a miracle in progress.
Teresa Brown knows a lot about determined courage and vision. She knows a lot about miracles also. Her life, like her business, has been the product of both. At the age of 12 Teresa was struck by a car driven by a hit-and-run driver while on a horse and thrown 20 feet in the air, severely damaging her spine and leaving her with a life of chronic pain. Numerous surgeries followed but the pain has continued throughout her life. On January 21, 1996 Teresa lost her husband and nearly lost her five year old son Colton to a horrific car accident in Johnson County, south of Fort Worth (Looking Forward, May 25, 2003; Fort Worth Star Telegram). Colton was a miracle child to begin with as doctors had told her she couldn’t have children, something she refused to accept.
During the night of the accident, as she waited throughout the night in the hospital for word of her only child’s condition, Teresa spent her time encouraging the family members of other critical patients instead of focusing on her own grief. She told everyone that she knew her son would live because he’d been a gift from God and she believed He wouldn’t take him from her. The accident left Colton hanging between life and death in a coma for 12 days. He emerged from his coma in a body cast. Colton, who now stands nearly 6’4” at age 14 and aspires to play professional basketball was nearly as large as his mother at the time of the accident. His care would require months of physically demanding and intensive commitment. Teresa took over complete responsibility for his care for months afterwards, physically lifting a child equal to her own weight in and out of bed despite the pain in her back and taking it upon herself to nurse him all the way back to health. She had nobody to help her.
In May of 2003, Teresa was driving down Bedford-Euless Road in Hurst when she spotted a small commercial building for rent and stopped to take a look. As she looked through the front windows, she noticed a cross rising from the roof of the church across the street and decided on the spot she was meant to be there and running a business. She signed the contract the next day, filed her paperwork and started moving much of her personal collection of novelties from home. Suddenly she was a business owner! Three months of intensive study and plenty of smart buying decisions later and she had a gemstone collection that jewelers around the metroplex would come to envy. Amazingly, she taught herself in a short time what usually takes much longer to learn, doing so at the same time she was launching the fledging enterprise.
From the beginning Teresa has used her business for a very special purpose apart from making money, one she believes represents her true calling; forming relationships with hurting women who’ve endured the pain of broken or lost relationships, spousal abuse, chemical addictions and other problems. Compassionately using her own life experiences to display a powerful personal religious faith, she shares and listens to anyone wanting to talk, while not hesitating to speak her mind with an honest, no nonsense, “tough love” approach to those who need to hear the truth spoken from someone they know cares. Her customers even include numerous elderly women who drop by on a regular basis just to talk to her, see the latest changes in her shop and have a cup of tea to reminisce about the past. They especially love the fact that she often dresses in the classic styles of the 1940’s, the golden age of American film. Teresa uses her zany sense of humor to keep her friends and customers in stitches and even sometimes gives away merchandise to those she knows can’t afford her already very reasonable prices. She’s even assisted those in need with financial help while sacrificing her own needs.
The store keeps regular business hours but Teresa can often be found staying after hours to counsel with a lady in need of spiritual or emotional healing. She also works tirelessly on her off days to constantly restock her merchandise and changes her display presentations throughout the store almost weekly, giving her store a different feel nearly every time one visits. It’s all for one reason, to attract those less fortunate and provide a listening ear of companionship to hurting people. Sometimes the effort to help people has gone even deeper. Teresa has taken into her own home those who needed assistance or guidance, sometimes for months at a time. Often those around her have expressed misgivings at her generosity, but it’s all part of her vision; a vision that takes seriously the faith she professes.
After all, as she reminds everyone who enters her shop, at the Chest of Treasures, “the guests of the chest are the treasures of the chest