Published: March 24, 2017
A supermarket spree
Town of Eden woman sweeps through store
after winning raffle
ndettmann@conleynet.com
262-306-5043
CAMPBELLSPORT — Betty Welsh put her name on one
ticket, not expecting to win a two-and-a-halfminute shopping spree through
Klotz’s Piggly Wiggly, When she did, she felt a bit guilty.
“There’s a lot of people that have a lot harder
times than our family,” Welsh said.
But a room full of people told her otherwise,
applauding her for winning the prize.
On Feb. 25, Shepherd of the Hills Catholic
Parish and School in Eden hosted a dinner auction gala, which also had a raffle
drawing.
Welsh bought six tickets. She put her name on
one. Then had a second thought.
“I don’t want to run up and down those aisles,”
Welsh said. “I want to watch someone else.”
So, she put her children’s names on the them.
Out of 360 tickets sold, hers was the one that was drawn.
“I guess I’m not used to winning things,” Welsh
said.
She eventually came around and got excited about
what she won. On Thursday afternoon, she decided to have some fun with it.
“Everybody kept saying it’ll be fun, it’ll be
fun,” Welsh said.
Donning big goggles and a long red cape, Welsh
wheeled a shopping cart up and down aisle after aisle, grabbing any item she
could think of and tossing it in her basket.
Throughout the chase, she’d crack jokes or sang
the Piggly Wiggly jingle, “Shop the Pig.”
About five minutes later, she had two carts
full of food and other necessities, such as soap and toilet paper, totaling
$400.57.
“I really thought I could get $200,” Welsh
said, adding she was surprised at the final tally.
She also plans to donate several items she
collected to local charities.
For those who don’t know Welsh, that is one of
several reasons why a room full of people cheered when she won the prize. And
that’s why several kids at the school were excited for her.
Welsh is the school librarian.
“She’s got a great sense of humor,” Andrea
Abler said. “She does a lot for the school and the parish. A lot of people were
excited to see that she was the one that won the raffle because she puts so
much time in and donates so much money.”
The concept of this prize started last summer
when the dinner auction committee at Shepherd of the Hills was discussing ideas
for a theme.
Abler is one of the committee members. “We’ve
always joked about using a game show theme,” she said. “Then we started talking
about the old grocery dashes that we used to see on TV.”
The committee came up with a prize similar to
the long-running television game show, “Supermarket Sweep,” The show debuted
Dec. 20, 1965, and aired more than 1,100 episodes until 2003.
It was a quiz show where teams accumulated time
based on their correct responses. Then, they’d compete in a timed race and
collect as many items as they could. The team with the highest ring total won.
Store manager Kevin Harvey remembered the show
well and was excited to be a part of it with Welsh.
“She’s a sweet lady,” Harvey said. “It couldn’t
have happened to anyone better. She deserves it.”
A regular shopper at this Piggly Wiggly, Welsh
already had an idea of what was where. But she also visited the store a couple
extra times, outlining what aisles she was going to go down and what she was
going to grab.
Harvey helped, too, finding out what she was
interested in getting and made sure there were plenty of whatever items she
wanted in stock.
He jokingly teased her each time Welsh came
into the store, teasing her about scouting the store, asking if it was
cheating.
When Welsh arrived shortly before 1:30 p.m.,
she had a shopping list in her hand.
“Kevin was always picking on me,” she said with
a smile.
On Wednesday evening, she walked through the
store twice, jotting down what aisles certain items were in and what side of
the aisle they were on.
“I looked for things that I use a lot,” Welsh
said.
Other items she got that were on her list
include cereal, dishwashing soap, bologna, hot dogs, chicken and summer
sausage.
One of the items she grabbed that wasn’t on
her typical shopping list was salmon.
“I know those were expensive and I know my
husband likes salmon, we don’t have it that often so I thought, ‘go for it,’”
Welsh said.
If given the opportunity again, she said she
would do it.
“It was a lot more fun than I thought,” Welsh
said.
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