Gift of UNCA Athletics Auction Raffle Ticket Nets Waitress
$1,000 in Groceries
Talk about just in time. Dot Williams, an eight-year veteran waitress
at the Leicester Grill, has a houseful of company coming in a few days.
Always a budget shopper at the grocery store, she'll be able to fill quite
a few buggies thanks to the gift of a UNCA Athletics Auction raffle
ticket, which turned out to be the winning number. The ticket -- one of
3,335-- is worth $1,000 in groceries at Ingles Markets. It was given to
her before the drawing by one of her regular Leicester Grill customers,
Cecil Hutchins.
Hutchins is a UNCA alumnus who played for the Bulldogs, as did both his
parents in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He helps each year with the
Bulldog Scholarship Auction, which raises funds for student-athlete
scholarships. He sold 50 $1 raffle tickets and bought 50 himself, giving
about 20 away to area businesses where he traded. Williams has been
serving Cecil the Leicester Grill's breakfast special (two eggs, bacon,
and a giant biscuit and gravy) once a week for years. So Hutchins gave a
ticket to Williams, as well as one to another waitress and the cook.
"I've entered raffles but I've never won one, ever. It feels
wonderful. It's unbelievable," said Williams, amid the lunchtime
hubbub. "I've got company coming in about a week -- my mom and dad,
two sisters and husbands, and maybe a couple more. I don't know what I'm
cooking yet, but this sure came at a good time."
Hutchins has no regrets about giving away the winning ticket.
"It's nice to know the person who won it and that I had a part in
it," he said.
Pat Bryant, who often joins Hutchins for the breakfast special, is
UNCA's associate athletic director for marketing and development, and
coordinated the auction. "This was our sixth annual auction and our
most successful. We raised $55,000 for student-athlete scholarships,"
he said. Among the items auctioned off were sports memorabilia, a
motorcycle, one-week beach vacation packages, and tickets to the ACC
tournament and a Duke University basketball home game.
Bryant and Hutchins will be bringing Williams her $1,000 in Ingles
script when they go for breakfast Friday.
Media Contacts:
- Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information Director, 828/251-6676
|
