Starting the New Year off right

Diane Boucher and Bruce McGregor start the year off with an extra $12,500.

Diane Boucher and Bruce McGregor started the New Year out with a little extra cash in their pockets having won the Desjardins Loan Insurance contest.

The couple, who bank at the local Caisse Populaire on Cassells Street in North Bay, decided earlier in the year that taking the insurance out on their mortgage would be a good idea, and that they couldn’t lose anything by entering the contest. In the end, they turned out to be the big winners.

“We came in to pay for our daughter’s tuition and it’s just before Christmas, so it’s a big chunk of change. So it was just after we paid for it and Norm said, 'Oh! We’d like to have you over here for this client appreciation ceremony.' "Then he whips out this check for $12,500 dollars, we were totally stunned,” says McGregor.

“For the first time in my life I think I was actually speechless.”

“They’ve been long time members, 25, possibly 30-year members here at the Caisse, so we’re quite happy to have them win,” says Norm St. Amour, General Manager

St. Amour says the staff embarked on a communit-giving process over the year and the contest announcement just happened at the height of their campaign.

“We’ve been trying to make a mark in the community for the last number of years,” he explains.

“Just raising awareness to who we are and what we do and as a 'Caisse Populaire', we’re very rooted in the community and to have someone win it locally is really a pleasure for us to have.”

As for McGregor and Boucher they plan to use the money wisely but have some fun as well.

“We went home and talked about what we would do with the money,” says Boucher.

“We will pay for our daughter’s tuition next year and we will take a trip.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: this story was scheduled to run Tuesday January 2nd, unfortunately in the commotion of my untimely accident the story was lost. Thanks to the help from some computer savvy friends, I was able to retrieve the story.