When Angela Schulze got a Ring camera notification that someone was at her front door, the last thing she expected to see was a big $25,000 check from Publishers Clearing House.
Schulze, 47, of Byrnes Mill won the prize on Nov. 10.
“It feels amazing to win,” Schulze said. “I have two kids now in private school with a tuition payment due in a couple of months, so it will help with that. Holidays are right around the corner, and I’ve got a daughter starting college next year.”
Danielle Lam, who presented Schulze with the check, said the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol spokeswoman surprises lucky winners like Schulze weekly. Larger prizes, such as the $1 million prizes, are given away every other month.
Schulze, a mortgage lender with Regions Bank, was at a charity event went Lam rang her doorbell, but Schulze’s 17-year-old daughter, Lexi, was home from school that day and opened the door.
She and the Prize Patrol waited for Schulze to speed home and receive her check.
“I saw (Lam) pop up on my Ring camera, and I’m like, ‘Why is there a cameraman at my front door?’” Schulze said. “They were doing a big presentation (at the event), and I was at a table with my colleagues. I stepped out to talk to (Lam). Then, I said to the group, ‘Publishers Clearing House is at my house; I have to go!’”
Lam said it was the first time she’d seen a winner learn about her prize through a doorbell camera.
“I travel everywhere to give people their checks,” Lam said. “I’ve been to every state except one of the Dakotas. We also do game shows. We’ve been on the Price is Right, Let’s Make a Deal, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Deal or No Deal, and Family Feud. When we’re not doing that, we’re on the road every week – big towns, small towns, everywhere.”
Lexi Schulze, who attends Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves, said her mother has been entering into PCH sweepstakes for a long time. Contestants enter by playing games on the PCH website or app.
“She gets excited when she wins, like, $20,” Lexi said. “She’s been playing this game and she finally won. It’s just crazy.”
PCH was founded in 1953 as a direct mail marketing company for various merchandise and periodicals and since then has transformed into a digital company that uses online games and giveaways to advertise consumer brands. According to its website, PCH has given away $585 million in prizes.
“We’ve been around for a very long time,” Lam said. “We consider (the sweepstakes) an advertising cost when you think about it. We take that money and use it as a sweepstakes. It’s the best advertising and it’s real reality television.”
How the sausage gets made
Lam said what people see on TV is a genuine surprise for the sweepstakes winners.
For Schulze’s prize, Lam, who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., started the day at 3 a.m., flew to St. Louis and made it to the Schnucks store in High Ridge by noon, where she bought a dozen roses and colorful balloons as part of the prize package.
Then Lam met with a freelance cameraman who captured every minute of the surprise.
From the Schnucks store, Lam drove a few miles down the road to Schulze’s home. She said it’s important to park a few houses away from the winner’s so the surprise isn’t ruined.
Before she knocked on Schulze’s door, Lam gave a little speech the cameraman recorded.
“We’re in Byrnes Mill, Missouri, and I’m about to surprise Angela Schulze with $25,000 in the weekly grand prize drawing,” she said in a bright, bubbly voice. “Now the crazy part is the house is literally just a few away and they have no idea I’m about to go knock on her door. So, fingers crossed she’s home.”
While the process is similar for each of the winners, the winners’ reactions vary, Lam said.
One prize winner stands out, Lam said.
“(The winner) lived on a huge, gated farmland, and I see this guy walking out with a big pistol, and I’m like, ‘This might end badly.’ I’m literally at the end of the driveway waving the check and yelling, ‘It’s OK!’”
Schulze said her husband, Doug, was away hunting and her son, Mason, was at school when Lam showed up.
“They’ll be coming home to a nice surprise,” she said.