Gift card winner pays it forward
Effort generates $80K in six days
Rebecca Cangiano of Collegeville — the winner of the recent Shop Small to Win Big initiative was “overwhelmed” when she found out she really had won big —$9,200 worth of gift cards that had been donated by businesses across the area.
The initiative was launched in April to put the focus on small businesses along the Route 422 corridor during the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the businesses are closed because of the pandemic, are operating on reduced hours, or are only offering curbside pickup, or delivery.
Cangiano said she wasn’t watching the April 27 Facebook live event April 27 when event organizer Chris Lerch, director of marketing for SportsPlex Management Group, which owns the 422 SportsPlex in Pottstown, chose a random receipt number. The receipt that won was a purchase Cangiano had made at her gym — Torque Spin, Barre & TRX Studio in Limerick.
Torque owner Summer Fatzinger was watching, and quickly texted Cangiano.
“I was a little overwhelmed,” Cangiano said. “My thought process had been that I didn’t expect to win, but I thought if I did, there was no way I could keep all of that. Immediately I went to ‘how can some more good come of this?’”
It didn’t take Cangiano, a physical therapist and her husband Mike Cangiano long to figure out what to do with the winnings. Cangiano is donating $4,800 worth of gift cards to four area charities
“I wanted to do something. A lot of the charities that do regular fundraising can’t do that right now. I’m hoping to make an immediate impact — there are so many people that need it right now,” she said.
The charities Cangiano is donating gift cards to are: Mitvah Circle in Norristown, Laurel House in Norristown; Pillars of Light & Love in Trappe and Illumination Community Outreach in Pottstown.
Cangiano has donated another $2,700 worth of cards back to Lerch, for future promotions and events to support small businesses. The couple kept the remaining $1,800 in gift cards.
“I wasn’t entering it just solely to win — I am the daughter of a small business owner. In the current climate there are so many people and small businesses struggling,” Cangiano said. “It’s a wonderful initiative that I was happy to support.” She added that her father had a graphic design business and has always been selfemployed. To be eligible to win the grand prize — people needed to make a single $50 purchase from one of the participating businesses between April 20 and April 26. Just as the number of participating businesses exceeded organizer’s expectations — so, too, did the purchasing results.
Many participants, including Cangiano, made multiple purchases.
Within three days, 301 receipts of at least $50 had been submitted to event organizer Chris Lerch, director of marketing for SportsPlex Management Group, which owns the 422 SportsPlex in Pottstown. Those receipts totaled $23,115.93 spent at small, local businesses.
By the end of the purchasing window on April 26, a total of 1,017 receipts of at least $50 were submitted — totaling $80,309.89.
“It is unreal to be honest. On the firstday,wereceivedabout5,000re
ceipts. I was blown away and told my wife that 5,000 a day would be great. But I wasn’t sure we could attain that,” Lerch said. “That turned out to be smallest day. The next day it was 8,000 then 12,000 — there was a constant flow of receipts coming in. It was unbelievable.”
When the recent Shop Small to Win Big initiative was launched in March, it grew — very quickly.
Lerch had an initial goal of getting 30 businesses to participate — which grew to 92. He continued to have businesses that wanted to participate, so some businesses donated daily prizes between April 20 through April 26. The winners were chosen from each day’s receipts.
Once area businesses decided to participate in the event, they began talking about the event on social media. At the end of the purchase period, Lerch revealed the top five businesses in terms of receipts. They are: J.J. Rattigan Brewing Co. in Pottstown, 75 receipts; Blue Elephant in Pottstown, 59 receipts; Achin’ Back Garden Center in Limerick, 55 receipts; Torque Spin Barre & TRX Studio in Limerick, 46 receipts; and Sweet Aloha Bowls in Royersford, 44 receipts.
Christa Costello is one of the co-owners of J.J. Ratigan
Brewing Co. She said the business, which opened in December, has been doing takeout and curbside pickup since restaurants were told in March to close their sit down dining areas because of the pandemic. She said the business sold 2500 gift cards in the six days, in addition to takeout purchases.
“Right now businesses are struggling. This was a wonderful way to get the word out that places are and how you could help out and keep them going. It was an awesome initiative,” Costello added.
During the purchase window, Fatzinger said Torque Spin Barre & TRX Studio sold $5,000 worth of gift cards and cards for future classes.
“Those are sales we would not have had without the event,” she added.
Lerch said the success of the Shop Small to Win Big even shows the importance of small business to the community.
“They could have waited until things are open again. Instead, they went out of their way to spend at least $50 or more; they went out of their way to purchase something for the future. It shows businesses are important to people — they mean something,” he said.
While no specific details have been announced, Lerch said discussions and planning are underway for what the next Shop Small to Win Big event.