Winner of Gingerbread House Contest Donates Prize and Entry

by George Zamora

SOCORRO, N.M., Dec. 21, 2007 – Raymona Holter of Socorro got into the Christmas spirit when she recently decided to enter the annual New Mexico Tech Gingerbread House Contest.

The Christmas spirit must have then overwhelmed Holter after she won the contest and decided to donate her entry and prize to a local family who is struggling with the recent loss of their patriarch.

Holter’s winning entry, a detailed Gingerbread firehouse, along with a signed copy of a book from which the firehouse idea originated, as well as the first-place prize of a $150 Wal-Mart gift certificate, will all be handed over this evening to the Padilla family of Lemitar.

Earlier this month, Frank Padilla, a longtime firefighter with the Midway Volunteer Fire Department, passed away.

The donation will take place during an informal presentation at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, December 21, at New Mexico Tech’s Joseph A. Fidel Student Services Center. Holter and members of the Padilla family are scheduled to attend, as is Socorro Fire Department Chief Joe Gonzales, who coordinated with Holter and the Padillas to make the donation possible.

-NMT-