JAMALCO employee in the Digestion/Shift Maintenance Department, Oniel Mills, was satisfied with the faithful service he had been receiving from his 1993 Toyota Corolla car, so he had no immediate plans to upgrade his vehicle. Little did he know that the stars were in alignment to surprise him for his birthday on April 24, 2021.

A long-standing member of the Community & Workers of Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union Limited (C&WJ), Mills decided to enter the credit union’s SAYE savings promotion, with the tagline “Seeing Doubles,” which was launched in February 2020, the first prize of which is a 2021 Honda Citi.

He got a surprise call on the eve of his birthday from Denise Harris, C&WJ’s chief marketing & sales officer, wishing him a happy birthday and announcing that he was the winner of the grand prize of a brand new car in the first draw in the 2020-2021 promotion.

At a recent presentation ceremony in the car park of the C&WJ’s headquarters on Half-Way-Tree Road in Kingston, the shiny red, air-conditioned car, with one-year’s insurance coverage, was handed over to Mills. The second-place winner, Delroy Cowell, manager in the Technology Department of Flow, was offered a prize of either tickets for two to Florida or $150,000 in cash. Cowell, who has been a member of the credit union for 32 years, decided to take the cash and deposit it in his account at CW&J.

“My wife and three children are so excited about the new car and cannot wait to see it,” said Mills, who travelled with two friends from his home in Clarendon. “One will drive back home with me, while the other will be follow in his car,” he said, as he manoeuvred his new car out of the car park onto the main road, waving to everyone he left behind.

Two-hundred-and-seventy people entered the first draw. The second draw in the current SAYE promotion is expected to be held in December this year, although the timelines for the promotion have had to be changed because of the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.