The third time was a charm for the winner of this year’s Great Grocery Giveaway.
The grand prize — $3,000 in Central Alberta Co-op gift cards — was a welcome surprise for first-time finalist Susannah Burnett. She had entered the annual contest, put on by Central Alberta Co-op and the Red Deer Advocate, for the last three years without success until Saturday morning when the draw was made.
“It feels amazing, it feels great,” she said, all smiles and laughter following the draw at the Plaza Shopping Centre Co-op in Red Deer. “I’ve never won anything before.”
The long-time Co-op member and newspaper subscriber added she’ll have to wait until next week, though, to start putting the gift cards to use, having shopped on Friday for the 10 for $10 Mix and Match sale. Burnett qualified during the second week of the contest, which ran from Sept. 22 until Nov. 1, using the entry forms published daily in the Advocate.
Entrants originally entered to win a grand prize of $1,500, but were told it would double if they were Advocate home delivered subscribers, and all top three winners were, confirmed by publisher Fred Gorman. Second and third place prizes handed out were $1,500 and $500 respectively.
A total of 12 finalists, all of which were required to attend the draw to be eligible for prizes, were given a re-usable bag filled with groceries as they were eliminated from grand prize contention. They had been previously awarded a $50 gift card — $100 if they were a newspaper subscriber — when they qualified.
Central Alberta Co-op has been operating for over 50 years in eight different communities in Central Alberta. It has five food store locations, including one in Lacombe, Innisfail, Spruce View and two in Red Deer.