Second Million Dollar Winner
Swift says it tries to treat each driver like a million bucks. For this driver – and one before him – they meant it quite literally.
Juan De La Paz had no problem describing how it felt to win a million bucks. "It's like you're on a cloud, like you're walking on air," said the 28-year-old driver from Chapparal, N.M., who became a millionaire Jan. 17 in Swift Transportation's second "Thanks a Million" promotion.
The million-dollar winner was named from among 10 finalists during a short halftime ceremony at the Memphis (Tenn.) Grizzlies NBA game against the Philadelphia 76ers in Memphis. Other finalists received $10,000 each.
The program was open to all of the company's drivers, who earned vouchers based on their safety and productivity. Each voucher became an entry in the giveaway. Most of the company's 20,000 drivers participated. De La Paz says he earned 103 vouchers, but he wasn't trying.
"To be honest, I completely forgot about the contest," he said in an interview immediately following the ceremony. "I was just concerned about doing the best job I could."
De La Paz drives team out of Swift's El Paso, Texas, terminal, and has been with Swift for nearly four years. "I always wanted to drive a big truck, ever since I was a kid."
For the Memphis event, the finalists and their guests were flown to Memphis and stayed at the luxurious and historic Peabody Hotel. They were greeted at the FedEx Forum by a New Orleans jazz band, as well as 250 Swift employees from the Memphis facility, who were on hand, cheering and clapping thunder sticks. After a catered dinner – during which members of the Grizzlies dance team came by to pose for photos with the finalists and Swift employees – they enjoyed the game from a private box.
Finalist Stephen Hartley, however, admitted he was having a hard time focusing on the game, waiting for the halftime announcement. But whatever the outcome, he said, he was thrilled. "The $10,000 and this experience today, I'm already a winner," said the driver from the Fontana, Calif., terminal.
Hartley's feelings were echoed by another finalist, James Moses from the Greer, S.C., terminal. "I look at it as I started from zero," he said. "Whatever I get is more than I came with. I've been impressed by how everything is put together. It's fabulous. I feel like I'm going to wake up any moment now."
De La Paz, too, said he tried to concentrate on the $10,000 he knew he would be receiving as a finalist, rather than the possibility of going home a millionaire. "I was very happy with that," he said, because it would mean he could become debt-free.
He had not given a lot of thought to what he might do with a million dollars. One thing he would like to do, he said, is build a new house for his mother, with whom he lives – along with two unmarried sisters. "I just want to get home and see my family laughing and happy, and we'll take it from there.
"When I see my family smile," he said, maybe it would all sink in.
The other finalists, and the terminals from which they operate, were:
• Paul Mondragon (Albuquerque)
• Aaron Jones (Eden, N.C.)
• Gustavo Gilman (El Paso)
• Jamison Lockamy (El Paso)
• Stephen Hartley (Fontana, Calif.)
• James Moses (Greer, S.C.)
• Michael Harmon (Memphis)
• Jeffery Esperium (Riverside, Calif.)
• Roger Holden (Seattle)
This was the second Thanks-A-Million event. Robert Goar, who drives out of the fleet's Fontana, Calif., terminal, was the million-dollar winner at the first bash last September.
Swift officials said the Memphis event likely be the last Thanks-A-Million promotion, but the company is working on coming up with other ways to show its appreciation for its drivers.
"We want to keep it fresh, keep it interesting, keep it fun and take advantage of our size," said Swift Vice President Dave Berry, "The question is, how do we top this?"
By Deborah Lockridge
Senior Editor
