14 DAY TRIAL // A husband and wife in Danville, a suburb just south of San Francisco, California, are still psyched at this moment, after they learned last Sunday that they had just won a brand new house in the Marin County, another suburb of the city, just to the north. Susan Wells was the winner of the ticket, and her gain couldn't have come at a better time – last Wednesday, her husband was laid off, and on Friday his company went bankrupt, so possibilities to get by were little.
“I'm floored. I can't believe this has happened. Needless to say, my husband is very surprised,” the woman said in an interview, adding that she bought the ticket in order to celebrate together with her husband their 16th anniversary. The two then learned that their raffle ticket was the winner, and now find themselves faced with two prospects – they can either choose the $2 million house in Marin, or opt for a $1.2 million prize in cash. Up to this point, they haven't made a decision on the matter, but one is expected soon.
“I got laid off on Wednesday and the company went bankrupt on Friday. It's been a really rough ride for the last year. This gives us an unbelievable lift,” Susan's husband, Brad, revealed. Before last week, he was a respected sales assistant at a Silicon Valley high-tech company, but over the last year things got really bad, sales became slow, and this eventually made the company go bankrupt and fire all its employees.
This year's raffle amounted to about $1.3 million, while last year's netted some $2 million. It was put together by a private social services organization called Community Action Marin, which is managing such an event for the second year in a row. “In this economy, we're still very pleased,” development director Russ Hamel pointed out.
In total, the raffle sold more than 29,000 tickets. But the house isn't the only thing that has been up for grabs this year. The runner-up will also receive a cash prize, amounting to $200,000. But these are concerns that don't trouble the Wells anymore. They were celebrating with their neighbors last night, enjoying their prize. “We're bringing a very good bottle of champagne,” Susan told.