11 Jan Luck, the Golden Bear and Two BMW Winners
What do shock, Jack Nicklaus, Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities and BMW have in common? The answer is our 2018 BMW Raffle winners, Keith Schoeman and Lindsay Bellasi.
“I was in Toronto for work when I received the call, and I thought it was a prank at first,” Lindsay said. “It didn’t really sink in until the day of the event as I didn’t want to get my hopes up!”
Keith, whose family has long been involved with Atlanta RMHC, was surprised when he got the call about the final drawing. “I don’t often answer the phone, because of the unstoppable spam calls. But intuition told me, pick up that call.”
Final Drawing
When Lindsay’s BMW key fob started the engine of the 2019 BMW 430i Convertible, her boys immediately climbed in the vehicle and kicked the tires. Her mom beamed.
Keith Schoeman (left) missed the magic of hearing the car start when Board member Richard Sparkmon used his BMW key fob, but he did celebrate winning the BMW with legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus.
“They still love telling all of their friends at school how ‘Mommy won a new car,” Lindsay said. “I think watching and hearing the car start with the winning key will forever be ingrained in their memory as it will be mine!”
Keith missed the magic of hearing the car start when Board member Richard Sparkmon used his BMW key fob. However, he told legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus that he had just won a BMW. Keith met the Golden Bear on the golf course.
“Oh yes, I was shocked!” Keith said. “I was on the 10th tee at The Bear’s Club in Palm Beach, Florida, at the moment I received the winning text from Richard! The tempo of my golf swing got a little quicker.”
ARMHC Connections
Keith and his family have being buying raffle tickets for more years than he could count. “Usually I only get two, but I told Rich at the time, ‘go ahead and get me six. I feel lucky.’ I was right!”
“This is exceptionally meaningful for me, my family and Richard Sparkmon. As a member of the Atlanta RMHC board, Rich has been selling raffle tickets for ages, but NEVER had a finalist before,” Keith said. “We look upon this Charity with great pride in all that we helped build since its inception. I know Dad is looking down on this with a big SMILE. McDonald’s changed our lives and enabled our family to help build THREE Ronald McDonald Houses!”
Lindsay only bought one raffle ticket from Rich DeAugustinis during the Coca-Cola headquarters event. She has volunteered at the Sydney, Australia, and Atlanta Ronald McDonald Houses.
“These have both been amazing experiences in which I’ve witnessed first-hand how important this organization is to patients and their families,” Lindsay said. “Also, as a mom of two young boys, when I imagined and saw just a glimpse of the difficulty these families are going through —to support an organization that helps take the added burden and pressure of lodging, logistics, meals, comfort and support is a no-brainer.”
Both Lindsay and Keith applied the lease credit to purchasing new BMWs. Lindsay and her family went with the 2019 BMW X3. Keith chose a new BMW X7 Crossover, which arrives in March.