Lady Luck came on a balloon to SwarnawathiMT.LAVINIA: D.G. Swaranwathi, (35) from Kandegedera, Matale was the first lucky winner of the first jackpot prize awarded by the Mount Lavinia Hotel to celebrate its bicentenary. On April 14 this year, coinciding with Sinhala New Year celebrations, Mount Lavinia Hotel released 1000 balloons from various parts of the island, carrying Rs. 1000 gift vouchers and five special jackpot vouchers, each comprising a price value of Rs. 100,000 the total prize value being Rs. 1,000,000. Swarnawathi was the first lucky winner to secure one such voucher, which was lying in her garden, almost after two and a half months of releasing the balloons.
When clearing a fallen Jak branch in her garden Swarnawathi, had come across the gift vouchers, which were lying among the balloon fragments. She and her husband, who is an electrician, have then contacted the Mount Lavinia Hotel and were told by the management to provide the vouchers for identification purpose and redeem the prize money. Swarnawathi, her husband Thilakasiri, who is a contractual employee and their only daughter Koshila Sewwandi, a year one student at Sri Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya, Matale, were invited to Mount Lavinia Hotel on July 6 to collect the price cheque. In addition to the jackpot price, Swarnawathi also found three vouchers containing Rs. 1000 each among the fragments. Swarnawathi said that she would utilize the money to renovate their house. “This money is a God sent gift to us. If not, we would have had to wait for a long time to collect such an amount. Now I do believe in luck. We are grateful to Mount Lavinia Hotel for their generosity,” Swarnawathi, who earlier did not believe in luck, told the media with a lot of emotion. “There are some more jackpot prizes lying out there; a total of four to be redeemed. We are waiting till the lucky recipients contact us to cash-in the prizes,” said the management of the Mount Lavinia Hotel. |
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