Adrian woman among two $5,000 winners in Gannett Fall Home Makeover Sweepstakes
ADRIAN — With the holiday season in full swing, and with Christmas being one week away, the season of giving became a bit brighter last week for one Adrian resident.
Heather Reid, an Adrian High School graduate and a Siena Heights graduate who has called Adrian her home for several years, was one of among three winners in Gannett’s Fall Home Makeover Sweepstakes, a national contest that was offered this fall through Gannett, the parent company of The Daily Telegram and several other publications statewide and nationwide.
The sweepstakes offered a chance for people to win $25,000 in prize money. A national grand prize winner would receive $15,000 and two national second place prizes of $5,000 each would be awarded to the other individuals.
Deanna Penick of Freeport, Ill., was the grand prize winner. Claiming $5,000 along with Reid is Aaron Burke of East Lansing.
Each of the sweepstakes winners were presented with giant checks for promotional photo opportunities. Reid received her giant check Thursday, Dec. 14, from Kim Haller, senior account executive with LocaliQ, Gannett’s online marketing company. The check was presented to Reid at Sterling Estates in Adrian, 1203 Division St., which served as the local sponsor of the national contest.
The contest, which was held in more than 300 participating markets across the country, ran from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31. Participants could enter once a day. Winners were randomly selected from hundreds of thousands of entries.
Email blasts about the contest were sent out to newspaper subscribers, renters, people who were looking to upscale their living, as well as people who were looking to downsize their living arrangements, Haller said.
People who head to The Daily Telegram’s website, lenconnect.com, or any other Gannett-owned media outlet, can access a variety of contests that are promoted online throughout the year.
In addition to the fall Home Makeover Sweepstakes, Gannett also offers a spring version of the contest.
Reid said one day in October, toward the end of the month, she was going through her emails and came across one that promoted the home makeover sweepstakes. She decided to enter her information for the contest.
“It never hurts to give it a shot,” she said.
After some time had passed between entering the contest and hearing back from Gannett representatives that she was a randomly selected winner, Reid said she kind of forgot about entering the contest.
“All of a sudden, I got the phone call, and I was like, “Wait. What?”
She’ll plan to put some of the winning money aside, Reid said, but she’s also planning to use some of her winnings to help with some work at her parents’ residence.
“It’s a wonderful surprise, especially at Christmas,” she said.
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Sterling Estates is a manufactured home community. It prides itself on offering nearly 300 quality manufactured home sites at affordable prices, “making the dream of homeownership possible,” according to sterlingestateadrian.com.
Alice Comfort, the assistant manager at Sterling Estates and Scott DeVore, property manager, also helped in last week’s check presentation.
Marge Burns, management president from Germano Management, the company that manages Sterling Estates, said it was a no-brainer for Sterling Estates to be a local sponsor of the sweepstakes contest.
“It’s a way for us to reach out to the community and advertise affordable and attainable housing,” she told The Daily Telegram. “... We want to build a community that is reflective of Adrian in a sense that it’s a small town, yet it has a lot to offer.”
— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian woman wins $5,000 in Gannett Fall Home Makeover Sweepstakes
