MoBay higgler becomes millionaire

Simone Barker, a higgler from Montego Bay, St James, was a picture of elation as she collected the symbolic cheque for $1 million in the Grace Foods 'Move Like a Millionaire' promotion last Friday at the GraceKennedy headquarters in downtown Kingston.

Barker shared that the prize money will cover back-to-school expenses for her daughters, and will go a long way in helping her to realise some of her other dreams.

"My eldest daughter will be starting high school, and the middle one will be going to grade four, so I know that their back-to-school is well set," Barker said excitedly during the official handover of the prizes to the final set of 'Move like a Millionaire' winners.

"My last daughter is only 10 months old so she's not going to school yet, but I will also be able to stock up on items for her."

Barker was among three winners for June. The second-place winner, Aleisha Swaby, won $500,000, after buying several cases of Grace drinks for the bar she operates in her St Elizabeth community, as well as other products for her home. Patricia Gryff-Dickenson, a Montego Bay native who routinely enters every Grace Foods promotion that is advertised in her local supermarket, was pleasantly surprised to learn that she had won a year's supply of Grace Foods grocery as the third-place prize.

Barker was the last of three persons to become millionaires in the promotion since April. She recalled the fateful day she signed up for the promotion while shopping.

"My children love the sausages and the Grace Tropical Rhythms (in the pouch), and I always buy my beans and coconut milk and other things to cook. A sales representative looked in my trolley and said I already had enough Grace items in my trolley to just enter the promotion on the spot," she recalled.

"I told her I was in a hurry, because I had to go back to selling, and she said I could just quickly give her my name, address and phone number, and she will complete the form for me."

Barker almost did not believe it when she received a call a few weeks later informing her that she had won.

"When the lady called me, me just say, 'Alright then', because me never really sure if it real. But I looked up the promotion and remembered that the girl took my information at the supermarket, and I was overjoyed," she said.

Barker also plans to invest some of the prize money into her home and business.