Although, she didn't win the $1000, she is still eligible! Yvonne Best, resident of Grand Terrace, is the City News Group Inc. Sweepstakes’ first winner. Earning herself a free meal from Woody’s Classic Grill.
Since 1962, Yvonne Best has seen Grand Terrace grow and change through the good and the bad and has recently had to make changes of her own.
“The last 20 years, I’ve been taking care of my mom and dad,” Best said. “Recently, my mother past and now I am cleaning up and starting a new life.”
Best shares a commonality with many residents of her community in that she is trying to get through these unprecedented times and survive the COVID-19 virus.
“I am able to stay home until there is a reasonable treatment or vaccine,” Best said.
Trying to do all that she can to keep herself safe and healthy, Best utilizes one of her passionate hobbies to her advantage. Best grows a garden of various plants in her backyard, which she uses to make her meals. Best loves her Mallow plant, which is known as a type of weed and is any of several flowering plants in the hibiscus, or mallow, family, and the roots were once used to create marshmallows, according to Britannica.
“The seeds look like a cheese wheel; [It’s] high in protein all the good kinds of proteins, the leaves are a taste between asparagus and artichoke,” Best said.
As a lover of gardening and vegetarian food options, Best can take a night off from cooking with ease knowing that she is the winner of a free meal from a local restaurant who is excited to serve and accommodate her.
Woody’s Classic Grill is the first local business to giveaway a prize as a participator in the City News Group, Inc. Sweepstakes program, a program created to inform the community that their local businesses are still open.
“Having a resident of Grand Terrace win the first prize is especially great,” said Mike Miller, Woody’s Classic Grill owner. “And she has never been to Woody’s so we love first timers.”
From the restaurant’s inception, Miller emphasized that “we build our business one guest at a time” and in return it creates a strong foundation for their business. “If we can get one guest to come in and they love our food, our service, like the value of our food, then they’ll go out and tell people.”
Woody’s can be compared to a modern day Cheers, because any guest that goes to Woody’s will be greeted with a smile and fully enjoy the friendliness of the employees and eventually everyone will know your name.
Woody’s decided to join the Sweepstakes program because Miller believes marketing is the number one thing a business has to do.
“You’ve got to get your name out and not only get your name out one time; you’ve got to be in front of people constantly because the minute you disappear off of any marketing they forget about you,” Miller said.
The first winner Yvonne Best won a free meal from Woody’s by finding a Woody’s ad on City News Group’s website with a Bag of Money icon, clicking on it, and submitting an entry to win with no purchase necessary. By submitting an entry to win a free meal from Woody’s, she was also entered to win the grand prize of $1,000 on December 3, 2020.
We look up to and are proud of our local businesses, like Woody’s for keeping their doors open and for continuing to serve the community. As a member of the community, we thank everyone who has continued to support their local businesses. How have you had to adapt? City News welcomes residents and local businesses to share their stories with us and let us know how you have adapted and accommodated throughout this pandemic.
“This program is awesome because it rewards not only the people coming to the website, it rewards the businesses, “Miller said. “It’s a win-win situation for everybody.”
A community should support each other and we hope this is a way to bring everyone together again.
Want a chance to be eligible for the $1000 and the opportunity to win some amazing weekly prizes? For more information please visit CityNewsGroup.com.