An Innisfail-area mother is Central Alberta's first big winner of Co-op's Fuel up to Win contest.
Tara Westerson, who lives on an acreage east of Innisfail along Rge. Rd 272, collected a cheque for $35,000 earlier this month at the Innisfail Co-op grocery store with her sons Dylan and Dawson.
The Fuel up to Win contest ran Feb. 26 to April 21 and included all retail Co-op stores in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Customers received a game card and stickers when they made purchases at grocery stores, home centres and gas bars. Once a customer filled a game section with stickers (the stickers were of Co-op communities) it was sent in. Some stickers included instant win prizes – such as discounts on products and gift cards. In Westerson's case, she won the online component of the contest.
“I got a phone call a couple of weeks ago. They called me at home to tell me I was the grand prize winner of the online part of the game,” said Westerson. “Every time you bought groceries you get little tickets and each ticket has a PIN (number) on it and I entered the PIN online.
“It was a shock. I never win anything,” she added, laughing and adding she had not figured out yet what she would spend her newly won money on. “I think half my family has it spent on me.”
More than $8 million in discounts and prizes from the contest were given out this year, with the grand prize being $100,000 cash, plus a $25,000 donation to the winner's community. Some of the other prizes were free groceries for a year, free gas for a year, vacation getaways and many more.
But Westerson's win was extra special in Central Alberta, said Darren Andres, Innisfail Co-op's food centre manager.
“We've had $50 gift card winners, barbecue winners, but this is the biggest one in Innisfail, in Central Alberta I think,” he said.
Tara Westerson
"It was a shock. I never win anything. I think half my family has it spent on me."
