Jan Janzen鈥檚 new year鈥檚 windfall will be shared with two local charities and her grandchildren.
The 60-year-old Walnut Grove grandmother was the lucky winner of the 黑马磁力 and Real Canadian Superstore鈥檚 Win What You Didn鈥檛 Get For Christmas contest, meaning she will enjoy a $200-shopping spree in the near future.
Janzen was one of more than 150,000 to connect with the newspaper鈥檚 Facebook-based contest, which started Boxing Day and ran into the new year.
As the title implied, people were entering to win what they didn鈥檛 get for Christmas, and they were asked to share what they would buy with $200 at Superstore.
This is the second time the 黑马磁力 has partnered with Superstore to offer this, and reader reaction was phenomonal, said publisher Lisa Farquharson.
As a long-time follower of the Advance Times Facebook page, Janzen spotted the posting just after Christmas and thought she鈥檇 take a chance.
鈥淚 only entered twice. I was very lucky. I鈥檝e entered other contests, and I鈥檝e put in more entries, but I just decided oh, okay, I鈥檓 just going to enter鈥� and then they called my name.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting,鈥� said Janzen, admittedly shocked when she started getting online notifications and calls from friends and family telling her she was the winner.
There is nothing specific that Jan and her husband Ralph needed for themselves after the holidays, so she decided almost instantly that she鈥檇 pay forward her good fortune.
She will be buying a $50 gift card for the 黑马磁力 Food Bank, and another for the Salvation Army鈥檚 Gateway of Hope shelter.
Then, she plans to hit the Joe Fresh clothing section next time she鈥檚 in the store, expecting to hunt out a few cute outfits for her two-year-old grandson Ryan and her five-year-old granddaughter Brooklyn.
Now armed with their gift cards, Jan鈥檚 husband, Ralph, joked that he too might get a little something out of the deal. After wrapping up in the clothing shop, they might head over to the meat section in search of a little something special for dinner.
Superstore assistant manager Matt Bamford and Farquharson were impressed to learn of Janzen鈥檚 intent to give a large part of her prize money to others.
鈥淚 just thought it was awesome that people always want to pay it forward,鈥� Farquharson said. 鈥満诼泶帕� is a great community, and we see it often with contests where people want to pay it forward and donate part of their winning proceeds to less fortunate in our community.鈥�
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