Shohola family win $25,000 grand prize

Residents accept prize at Milford branch office Milford - John Gorka of Shohola won the $25,000 grand prize in last autumn’s debit card sweepstakes at Citizens Bank. Gorka and his wife Kathy accepted their prize from Citizens Bank executives during a ceremony at the Citizens Bank branch in Milford. “I want to congratulate John for being our $25,000 grand prize winner,” said Ralph J. Papa, President of Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. “When we developed the promotion, we thought it would be a fun way to thank our customers and also give them a little encouragement to experience the convenience of using their debit cards.” The promotion began last Sept. 16 and continued through Oct. 31. All new and existing Citizens Bank customers were automatically entered to win $25,000 every time they used their debit card for a pin or signature-based transaction, including the MasterCard PayPassTM Tap N Go function. Gorka was selected randomly from all eligible entries in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. “I’ve never won anything before, so this is terrific,” said Gorka. “I was already a big debit card user because I like the convenience of using it rather than cash for making purchases, so winning the $25,000 is an extra bonus.” Gorka and his wife have lived in Shohola, for 14 years. They plan to use the money to pay off some bills, put some money away in a savings account and go out to dinner to celebrate. Phyllis Petrillo, Manager of the Citizens Bank Milford Branch, recently helped Gorka enroll in the new Citizens Bank Debit Rewards program. As an avid user of debit card transactions and online banking, Gorka will now be able to earn Everyday PointsTM when using his debit card to make a purchase. Points are awarded for any signature-only debit transaction and any non-pin transaction such as phone and Internet purchases. Points can be redeemed for gift cards, brand name merchandise and more. According to a recent MasterCard survey, nearly one-third (31 percent) of Americans expect to use their debit cards more frequently over the next year. The survey also found that 33 percent of debit cardholders use their cards more than 16 times per month to make purchases at the point of sale, online or to pay bills. Citizens Bank is a $36 billion state-chartered bank. It has about 400 branches, more than 675 ATMs throughout Pennsylvania. Citizens is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). Citizens’ Web site is citizensbank.com .