Phillis Mendez wins $10,000 from Western Union

A Belize Bank employee has struck a ten thousand dollar jackpot… the lucky winner came not from a Lotto draw, but rather a raffle conducted by the Belize Chamber of Commerce Western Union. News Five was on hand when the winner was selected.

Phillis Mendez, $10,000 Raffle Winner
“I received some money from the states and that’s how I ended up in the raffle.”

Jose Sanchez
“How does it feel to win the money?”

Phillis Mendez
“I am still shocked.”

Jose Sanchez
“How did you find out about it?”

Phillis Mendez
“Actually, one of my coworkers came over and told me that somebody from Western Union supposedly called me and that was when I received the call.”

Jose Sanchez
“So you’re ten thousand dollars wealthier than you were yesterday. Do you have any plans for the money?”

Phillis Mendez
“Not yes, not yet.”

Omar Ortiz, Mgr., Belize Chamber of Commerce
“Last year we had our loyalty program in ’07 and in ’08 we decided to do it again because customers said well, you have to do something again. So we decided and we had a loyalty program which we would do for the entire and we started off with monthly raffle draws of seven hundred and fifty dollars. The loyalty program is actually, in conjunction with business houses all over the country and when people send an receive money with their Western Union gold card—and it’s important, you have to have a Western Union gold card—you get a chance to participate in the raffle; the monthly raffle of seven hundred and fifty dollars. In addition, we had free dinners courtesy of the Radisson, cable courtesy of CBC and as usual we try and wait until the end of December so as to ensure that everybody who is sending money in that busy time you know everybody is sending and receiving money to their loved ones or children, etcetera. So we always wait until in January.”

Second prize was a round trip ticket to the U.S. or Central America worth two thousand dollars, which was won by Roshawn Casey; third prize of a year of free cable went to Inez Palacio, while Delta Flowers took home a cell phone.