ORWIGSBURG — Glancing at a supermarket checkout slip can be a shocking experience these days, but imagine seeing $925.94 on the bottom line.
That’s what Stacy Guzick saw Thursday night after going through the checkout at Boyer’s Food Market.
Thing is, Guzick couldn’t have been happier. It didn’t cost her a dime.
The 42-year-old Pottsville medical worker won the Blue Mountain Soccer Club shopping spree raffle and took home all the goods she could stuff into a shopping cart in five minutes — with certain limitations.
STAFF PHOTO
A winning raffle ticket sends Stacy Guzick of Pottsville on a 5-minute shopping spree at Boyer’s Market in Orwigsburg Thursday. She made a bee-line for the meat section. David McKeown / Multimedia Editor
Basically, she could select four of any item in Boyer’s except cigarettes, milk, baby formula, propane, gift cards and lottery tickets.
Guzick scoped out the store earlier in the week with her husband, Chris, and children, Grant, 8; and Genevieve “Gigi,” 6.
Meat and poultry were high on the list. The Guzicks cleaned out the family freezer in anticipation.
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Fritos and sugar-free Mountain Dew were high up for Grant, who wore his No. 24 soccer jersey. Gigi was big on Lunchables and Oreo cookies.
Dad, a service adviser at J. Bertolet Volkswagen, wondered how he was going to get everything into the back of the family’s SUV.
Supporters, including club president Craig Borger and his boys — Owen, 11, and twins Grant and Evan, 7 — showed up for moral support.
In unison with store manager Frank Tipa, they did the traditional before the spree.
Ron Devlin / Staff Photo
Frank Tipa, Boyers Market store manager, checks out Stacy Guzick after she filled her cart during Blue Mountain soccer club’s shopping spree at Boyers Market in Orwigsburg on Thursday.D avid McKeown / Multimedia Editor
In pink sneakers and a Blue Mountain Soccer sweatshirt, Guzick darted to the meat section at the rear of the store.
As Tipa called out, “Four minutes to go,” she was piling steak, pork chops and ground meat into the cart — plus a turkey large enough to feed an infantry squad.
Next was the chicken, ham and bacon section before heading to the frozen food case. On the way, she threw in a few more Lunchables.
Gigi waved a sign that read “Go Stacy” scrawled on the inside of a Cheerios box.
Beelining to the soda aisle, with less than a minute to go, Guzick piled 12-packs of drinks on the bottom of the cart.
When Tipa called time, there wasn’t an inch of space left on the cart, and Guzick struggled to push it to the checkout aisle.
Successful raffle
Kerry Herb, a club fundraiser, reported that club members sold 1,024 tickets at $10 each, grossing $10,240.
Minus expenses, the club netted $8,461.83, which is used to rent and maintain soccer fields and purchase training equipment, goals and nets.
In addition to the cost of the food, the raffle included $950 in gift cards. Boyer’s discounted the cost of the food and gift cards.
Gift card winners were Jeralynn Brommer-Jones, $500; Gary Stokes, $300; Tiffany Putalavage, $100 and Zach Tofany, $50.
Jen Lileck, Amy Schneider and Herb co-chaired the fundraiser.
The program, Borger said, offers various levels of soccer to about 360 youngsters ages 4 to 13.
Teams of kids aged 4 to 7-years-old play each other locally, while older players travel for games against teams in Berks County.
“Blue Mountain is a kid-first soccer club that helps youngsters build their love and passion for the game of soccer,” Herb said. “We provide the best player experience for our players to reach their maximum potential and to enjoy learning the game of soccer.”
Soccer players from Blue Mountain school district and surrounding areas have used the club since 1987.
Making a memory
As the Guzick kids helped unload mom’s shopping cart, Tipa rang up the items and Connor Stehr, a senior at Nativity BVM High School, bagged the groceries.
Wheeling the cart from the store, Stacy Guzick said, “I’m exhausted. I used muscles I didn’t know I had.”
Worried about space in their refrigerator and freezer, they dropped some of the meat at Stacy’s mother’s house.
The turkey and ham will end up on the Thanksgiving table, when the Guzicks host 14 people for dinner.
The shopping spree was especially eventful for the kids.
“They both had so much fun,” the mom recalled Friday. “When we got home, they couldn’t wait until we put everything away and they could start eating their Lunchables.”
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