Jamie Jones
June 22, 2009 08:04 pm
—
Kimberly Green was a bit let down when she wasn’t an instant winner of a $10 gift certificate in an Internet contest.
But a phone call she received several weeks later more than made up for the disappointment.
On Monday, Green and her family were in Grand Central Station in New York City to receive a $221,000 check as the grand prize winner of the Century 21 “Path to Your Dreams Sweepstakes.” The money must be used towards the purchase of a residential home. Green’s entry was randomly drawn from more than 581,000 unique online entries during the 46-day contest.
Why did Green even enter the contest? A co-worker told her a Web site was giving away the $10 gift certificates. So Green filled out the entry form. She had no idea she was also entering another contest.
“It was quite a surprise,” said Green, an emergency room nurse at Murray Medical Center. “It’s still shocking.”
Green and her husband, Greg, already own a home in Dalton and are still deciding what to do with the windfall.
“We’re not even sure yet,” Green said. “The fact that this is all really happening is still sinking in. We’re going to look and see what our options are.”
This was the first year for the “Path to Your Dreams Sweepstakes,” said Tom Kunz, president and chief executive officer of Century 21 Real Estate. The company had partnered with Major League Baseball for a contest tied in with the All-Star game and Kunz said the company wanted to continue giving away prizes. In addition to the grand prize, eight regional winners will be awarded $5,000 each. There were 10,500 instant winners who received $10 gift cards.
Kunz said the Greens have been beaming ever since they arrived in New York City on Saturday.
“Every time you bring it up, all you see is big grins,” Kunz said. “I think it’s going to have a really big impact on their lives. The $221,000 will pretty much allow them to look at homes that they probably never could have done before. That’s always really great.”
The Greens, along with their 21-year-old daughter Ashley, have been on a whirlwind tour of “The Big Apple.” They stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel in the heart of the city. They’ve seen most of the sights, including Ground Zero, the Empire State Building, Times Square and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which Kimberly Green said left the most lasting impression. They’ve also dined at several upscale restaurants. (Kimberly Green was eating at Michael Jordan’s The Steakhouse N.Y.C. during an interview with a reporter on Monday).
The check presentation ceremony was also grand. Held in Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station, it featured a performance by singer and actress Ashanti of “Home” from the Encores! Summer Stars production of “The Wiz.” Green said “there were cameras everywhere, people everywhere.”
“Oh, I was very nervous,” Green said. “I thought I was going to have to speak publicly to the crowd. That didn’t happen, but I was really nervous about that because I’m not a good public speaker.”
Darren Payne, broker/owner of Century 21 Belk Realtors in Dalton, escorted the Green family on the trip to New York City. He believes an area family winning the contest is “great news for Dalton” and could do wonders to bring “morale” back into the real estate market locally.
“We definitely wanted a family who needed this, and that is exactly what we got,” Payne said of his fellow members of the company’s regional board of directors. “They already own a home, but they want to upgrade. It’s a real great opportunity for them. That’s what the dream of home ownership is all about. I think it shows that Century 21 really promotes giving back, not only in charitable issues but also in a contest like this where everybody can participate.”
The Green family returns home today. They’ll have six months to figure out how to spend the $221,000. In the meantime, they’ll have plenty of memories of their time in New York City.
“It was the trip of a lifetime,” Green said.
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