Newsroom

A Grateful New BMW Winner!

A common thread links New Hope for Kids and Emily Bienvenu. That thread is the importance of helping people. Emily’s great-uncle Andy Wootten encouraged his family to be grateful for their blessings, and to realize that others, especially children, might need help sometimes. His gratitude-in-action was a living example of how to make a difference in the lives of others, and Emily took it to heart.

Several years ago, Emily found New Hope for Kids and began supporting our mission by purchasing BMW drawing of chance tickets. This long-time Maitland/Winter Park neighbor loved that we focused on children and families, something she knew would make her great-uncle happy.

Early in the day on September 24th, she looked at the BMW postcard on her refrigerator, imagined herself driving her new car, and quietly expressed gratitude for the blessings in her life, now and to come.

Later that same evening, Emily’s phone rang. In a surreal moment in time, she absorbed the caller’s news… her ticket had been drawn in front of the crowd at New Hope for Kids’ fundraiser, Art of the Vine, and she was the winner of a brand new BMW! To the crowd’s delight, New Hope board member Dr. Todd Husty enjoyed confirming on speaker phone that this was really happening. Yes, she really had won!!

Within days, Emily had met Dave Joswick, New Hope for Kids executive director, at Fields BMW in Winter Park where she was guided through the process of officially making the car hers. In yet another surreal moment, Emily was handed the keys to her own, brand new BMW 228i Gran Coupe. Since driving the car home that first day, Emily said she is still over the moon about what has happened. And she is feeling enormous gratitude for this incredible and surprising blessing in her life.