Exchange Credit Program Pays $43,000 Toward Holiday Bills
Retired Navy Chief Petty Officer David Auxier (center, with family) was grand-prize winner in the Your Holiday Bill Is On Us sweepstakes. From left are: Whiteman AFB Exchange General Manager Mary Omler; Regional Senior Vice President Anna Iosefo; Auxier and family; Exchange Credit Program Senior Vice President Jami Richardson; and Chief Master Sgt. Matthew Gray of the 509th Mission Support Group.
The Exchange Credit Program has made the beginning of 2018 a little brighter for 40 winners of the annual MILITARY STAR card Your Holiday Bill Is On Us sweepstakes.
The Exchange Credit Program paid more than $43,000 toward shoppers’ MILITARY STAR card balances in its fourth annual sweepstakes.
Five grand-prize winners had their balances paid in full, while 10 second-place winners received $1,000 statement credits. For third place, 25 winners received $500 statement credits.
6 million entries
The sweepstakes saw nearly 6 million entries from authorized shoppers using their MILITARY STAR cards in person at military exchanges; online at ShopMyExchange.com and myNavyExchange.com; and at commissaries around the world.
“Each year, this sweepstakes proves that real heroes walk away as winners,” said Exchange Credit Program Senior Vice President Jami Richardson. “It’s a privilege to honor our cardholders’ service and sacrifice through the Your Holiday Bill Is On Us sweepstakes. We look forward to this every year, and we are excited to bring the sweepstakes back for the 2018 holiday season.”
“It’s a privilege to honor our cardholders’ service and sacrifice through the Your Holiday Bill Is On Us sweepstakes.”
-Jami Richardson, senior vice president, Exchange Credit Program
Retired Navy Chief Petty Officer David Auxier was the sweepstakes’ biggest winner. During a presentation at the Exchange at Whiteman AFB, Mo., he took giant scissors to an oversize statement, symbolizing his $8,100 MILITARY STAR card bill being wiped clean.
“When they first told us, we were in shock that we had actually won,” said Auxier, who has a son in college and 11- and 13-year-old girls. “We use the MILITARY STAR card for a lot of major purchases as well as at Christmas time. Having this bill paid off creates breathing room in our budget and helps out for those unexpected things that come up.
“This has been a huge blessing.”
Commissary winner
The sweepstakes also helped 1st Lt. Blake Jones, who is attending the Army Logistics University captains career course at Fort Lee, Va., and his young family. Jones made his winning purchase at the Fort Lee commissary after PCS’ing from Alaska’s Fort Wainwright right before the holidays.
His account balance of $5,200 was paid in full during a ceremony at Fort Lee’s commissary, which became the first commissary in the world to accept the MILITARY STAR card in October.
Three other grand-prize winners, Benjamin Neusbaum, a DoD contractor at Camp Foster in Okinawa, Japan; retired Army Col. Edward Lynch of San Antonio, Texas; and retired Army 2nd Lt. Glenn Kipper, a Vietnam Army Veteran from Farmers Branch, Texas, each received a $2,500 statement credit.
Shoppers automatically received a sweepstakes entry every time they used their MILITARY STAR cards from November through December at any military exchange; on ShopMyExchange.com or myNavyExchange.com; or in any commissary around the world.
