Joeten Motors won big bucks ($15,000) during recently held American Red Cross Club 200. Ms. Frances Demapan went up the stage and in utter ecstasy for winning the grand prize announced to the audience that Joeten Motors bigwigs would agree with her that the prize money should be given back to Red Cross [for its community services].
To Joeten Motors officials' surprise, Red Cross decided to redraw a new winner because Joeten Motors decided to give it back. Witnesses saw the Joeten Motors officials' faces and looked at each other in utter surprise, but did not show it.
According to Red Cross, people that bought a $100 ticket that night hoped to win the prizes; thus, the civic group redrew the raffle for the grand prize.
Joeten Motors might have meant to donate the prize money to Red Cross immediately but still would claim the name as the winner. They donated the money to Red Cross because they knew that Red Cross needs money to fill all its services. Shouldn't Red Cross have consulted the winner first if it was okay to redraw the grand prize, when Joeten Motors meant to donate the money to Red Cross. It was luck that they won. They bought tickets too. It's sheer luck but I guess Joeten doesn't need more dough, right? Joeten Motors should have taken the money instead then give it to its Joeten Charitable Foundation to give to more deserving entities in the CNMI.
The new winner, though, they say deserves the prize money to help pay for hospital expenses of a member of the family. Hmmm...in this case....oh well.
8 comments:
I thought it was in poor taste as well. Usually the winner comes up and tells the organizer that they would like the prize reraffled.
The Red Cross is raising money for a good cause, no doubt. But alot of folks put out, in many cases, money they can't really afford. I myself have purchased a ticket every year for the last 13 years.
There is nothing more disheartening than companies buying tickets. Some companies buy hordes of tickets. Why don't they just donate the money? This is a huge turnoff for alot of potential ticket buyers. I've hear it often said that folks may not or aren't buying tickets because companies buy numbers of tickets.
It's a good cause, but having held this for close to 20 years now, there should be some strict written protocols in place.
This is crazy.
I would believe that the move by the Red Cross just cost Joeten Motor's the ability to write off $15K as a charitable donation to the Red Cross.
That is a costly error and a bad way to repay Joeten Motors for wanting to increase their initial donation with an additional $15K.
you should see their faces when they announced the redraw...
Can you imagine thier faces if another company had won the redraw??? Yikes!
Now that would have been funny.. Payless Supermarket wins it and keeps it :)lol!
would you keep it?
Hell yes. A raffle is a raffle, winner take all. If I had what Joeten had, that would be different.
Does the Red Cross work under the same rules as United Way? That is; does some portion of the money donated in say, Michigan, find it's way to Saipan? If so, What are they thinking? From thier actions this weekend one could easily conclude that, none of the money collected on the island goes to the better public good elsewhere no matter how much comes in. Poor, poor move. Post a note on everyone's head: although Saipan is an island, it is not a bubble from which nothing escapes to the outside world.
well said sox...
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