Christmas shopping spree

By JAINE TREADWELL

Features Editor

Dec. 21, 1999 11 PM

Cynthia Pearson is blessed.

"I don’t say I’m lucky, because luck runs out – I just say I’m blessed," said Pearson, winner of The Messenger’s Great Get-Away Give-Away grand prize of $500 in merchants’ cash. "Right now, at Christmas time, I am truly blessed!"

Within 15 minutes of receiving the phone call from The Messenger’s advertising director Deedie Carter, Pearson said everybody knew she had won.

"They probably heard me scream," she said, laughing.

But just in case her family and friends didn’t hear her shouts of joy, Pearson called them with the good news. Her sister Debra Jones got the first call.

"Debra was the one who told me about the contest," Pearson said. "We sat up until midnight filling out the forms. My husband said, ‘I can’t believe you’re sitting here doing that!’ But, it didn’t cost anything to enter and I thought I had as good a chance as anyone else. And, there’s one thing about it, you can’t win if you don’t enter."

Pearson and her sister are teased a lot because "we’re always together trying to win something."

"If you have to pay to enter, I don’t do it but something like The Messenger’s "Great Give-Away – you don’t have anything to lose."

Pearson has won things in the past – a television, a blender, $100 worth of groceries and a pot roast but The Messenger’s Great Get-Away Give-Away would be, by far, her biggest win.

As Peason made her way around to the business of the participating merchants, she did some shopping and some looking.

"If it had not been for the contest, I probably wouldn’t have gone in some of the stores but I enjoyed looking and I found some things I needed and a couple of things I really wanted for myself but couldn’t get," Pearson said. "Now, I’m going back and treat myself to one of those things I really wanted."

Pearson’s four-year-old daughter Jessica has health problems and Pearson said her family’s needs come before her own.

"But, I think it will be okay now to go back and get that something for me," she said with a smile. "The Lord has really blessed me and I am so happy I don’t know what to do. I want all of the merchants to know how much I appreciate this wonderful Christmas gift. They have made Christmas even more special for me and my family and I thank them and The Messenger for giving me this opportunity. Cynthia is blessed."