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‘Thrill or No Thrill’ pleases participants
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Joseph Seminara of the local Pizza Joe’s restaurant chain announces that Barb Kuras of Boardman, left, won a year’s worth of pizza at the Thrill or No Thrill fundraiser for the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. Seminara was the master of ceremonies for Wednesday’s fundraiser, based on the TV show “Deal or No Deal,” at Our Lady of Mount Carmel hall in Youngstown.
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
If you ask John White his favorite number, he would likely tell you 74.
That’s largely because he married his wife, Kathy, on June 22, 1974.
It’s also because a pizza box he selected bearing that number made him $1,000 richer.
“I’m taking an anniversary trip to Hawaii at the end of April,” an exuberant White said after having won the grand prize during Wednesday’s “Thrill or No Thrill” fundraiser for the United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
The event at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 343 Via Mount Carmel Drive, was patterned after the popular NBC game show “Deal or No Deal,” in which contestants selected numbered briefcases that contained prizes. Throughout the show, which premiered in 2005, participants were offered money or other prizes to quit.
The gathering, sponsored by Pizza Joe’s, was to raise money for United Way’s 2011 campaign, which likely will get under way in September, noted Tara Mady, United Way director of marketing and communications.
The goal for Wednesday’s event is $10,000, she added.
“Deal” was hosted by actor and comedian Howie Mandel and was similar to the long-running game show “Let’s Make a Deal” that was hosted by Monty Hall and aired for nearly three decades.
Even though Mandel and Hall weren’t at Wednesday’s fundraiser, it seemed to capture the excitement and camaraderie that were perhaps as much a part of those shows as the prizes.
Two hundred contestants paid $50 each, then selected numbered pizza boxes containing prizes worth at least $25 that included a 51-piece tool set, a waffle maker, an Ohio State University football with head coach Jim Tressel’s autograph, a buffet server, a juice extractor, Cleveland Cavaliers tickets and a variety of gift baskets. The top prizes were $1,000 and one set of round-trip tickets to Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The other $1,000 winner was Ken Johnson of Liberty. Mark Samuel of Youngstown took home the Myrtle Beach tickets.
White, an insurance agent from Hartville near Kent, said he plans to use his winnings to rent a Jeep and enjoy the Big Island of Hawaii.
“It’s great. My wife will be thrilled to death,” he added.
In keeping with a main feature of “Let’s Make a Deal,” every 50th contestant was given the opportunity to keep or trade their boxes for what was behind four covers. One man swapped his prize and walked away with $250.
The master of ceremonies was Joe Seminara, president of Pizza Joe’s, who opened his first eatery in 1980 in New Castle, Pa.
The “Thrill or No Thrill” event was the first of its kind for the local United Way, noted Bob Hannon, president.