Kaitaia shopper wins a Ford Fiesta with Variety

The Warehouse promotion raises $133,000 for Kids on the Move programme.

The Warehouse customer Shahneen James has scratched her way to winning a brand new car in this year’s Scratch ‘n’ Win promotion for Variety – The Children’s Charity. The lucky mother of five from Kaitaia is now the proud owner of a blue Ford Fiesta LX Manual valued at $23,990.

The promotion, which ran at The Warehouse stores nationwide in August, has raised more than $133,000 for Variety’s Kids on the Move programme, which gets kids moving, providing them with independence and the mobility equipment they so desperately need.

“We are delighted with this result and are once again extremely grateful to The Warehouse for its generous support of Variety, and to Ford New Zealand, who has been a fantastic supporter of Variety for over 21 years,” says Lorraine Taylor, CEO, Variety – The Children’s Charity. “This money will help us to enrich the lives of many Kiwi kids with bikes and specialised trikes.”

Shahneen has her 14-year-old daughter to thank for encouraging her to buy a $2 Scratch ‘n’ Win card.

“It was my daughter’s birthday the previous day and she wanted to spend her birthday money. We saw the Scratch ‘n’ Win cards and she egged me on to give it a go and buy one. I was happy to support Variety, which has done great work in Kaitaia, visiting last year to give bikes to children and again with the Variety Bash earlier this year. I let my daughter scratch the card, and neither of us could believe it when we saw we’d won the car. We just stood there speechless!

“I’m really excited to pick the car up today. We’re planning a big celebration with the family and are thinking of taking the car for a run up the Cape.”

Money from the promotion will be used towards Variety’s annual Bikes for Kids tour, which is coming up in November. Bikes for Kids gives 450 deserving or disadvantaged Kiwi kids the freedom and independence of riding their own bike. This year will see Variety giving out bikes from South Auckland through Cambridge, Taupo, Ruapehu District, South Taranaki, Porirua, Lower Hutt, Wairarapa, Hastings and Napier, with an additional presentation to children in earthquake-affected Christchurch.

Kiwis are being encouraged to nominate deserving children to receive a bike by visiting www.variety.org.nz.