Caledonia Resident Wins Big With SMART
A resident from up north has reason to celebrate on the eve of the start of the New Year. Rogelio Alcoser went back to his home in Caledonia with ten thousand dollars in his pocket. Alcoser won the popular SMART Fantastic Fridays raffle and has plans to spend it wisely. Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Rogelio Alcoser, a father of two, is the lucky winner of a ten thousand dollar raffle which was drawn recently. Fantastic Fridays was launched by Smart in mid-October with the company giving away a thousand dollars every week leading up to a grand prize draw. The resident of Caledonia Village in the Corozal District was pleasantly surprised when he received a phone call informing him that he had won the raffle. He recounts that feeling.
Rogelio Alcoser, Smart’s Grand Prize Winner
“I’m very happy and so excited to receive this; I didn’t believe it. I received the call and I don’t believe it and I feel very happy and it’s a blessing from god and I am very happy and excited for this grand raffle that I have won.”
Isani Cayetano
“It’s a great way to start 2015 having won ten thousand dollars. Have you made a budget as to how you are going to use it or what have you?”
Rogelio Alcoser
Rogelio Alcoser
“Well right now, I’m just thinking about making an addition to my house and leave some money at the bank because that’s what I was doing. I got two daughters that’s starting to grow and things hard right now. So I have to make sure how I could…”
Isani Cayetano
“What was it like informing your wife and your family that you are the lucky winner of this ten thousand dollars grand prize?”
Rogelio Alcoser
“Informing…I neva believe it because at that time I neva tell nobody. I only received the call and I feel nervous and then I called her and I tell her if she hear the news. I think they passed it live on radio and she tell me that her brother and uncle mi done know about it and I feel happy. I gone asked the Smart place in Corozal because I am working right there is Corozal. So I am very happy.”
According to Public Relations Manager Linette Canto, the initiative is Smart’s way of giving back to its customers without them having to sign up or make any purchases to participate in the raffle.
Linette Canto, PR Manager, Smart
“We started this promotion in early October and the basic idea was to give back to our customers. The beauty of it was that you didn’t have to do anything; all you had to do was to be a customer in our database and you were automatically entered into the raffle. We did ten consecutive draws from October up to the twenty-second of December and each of those customers from across the country received one thousand dollars each, and then we did our grand prize raffle on the twenty-fourth and Mister Alcoser of Caledonia village won and he is here to collect his prize.”
Isani Cayetano
“Over the course of this particular campaign, what was the response from customers or Smart?”
Linette Canto
Linette Canto
“Customers were really excited. It was really interesting with some of the calls. Some people were skeptical—like is this for real or is someone pranking me. Some people were so excited about it; for a minute they forgot that they were on the phone. So the response was varied but at the end of the day, everybody was excited because as I said, you didn’t have to do anything. It was a way of giving back so you were automatically entered into the raffle.”
Isani Cayetano
“What was the experience like coming from Mister Alcoser in terms of informing him that he was the grand prize winner?”
Linette Canto
“Well Tamara Bradley was the one that called him, but we were present and when we called him at first, I think he was a little overwhelmed. I think he actually, as I far as I understand, he actually went to the Smart office in Corozal to make sure that it was for real. And when he found out it was for real, he was very excited about it. and they had to travel from early this morning to be here. So I know that it is an exciting and thrilling day for him.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
