Charlestown, R.I. – Back in February, Anna Troiano, of Connecticut, won one of the South County, Rhode Island getaway packages from purchasing one of the winning chocolate bars made by Hauser Chocolatier to benefit the Chorus of Westerly Summer Pops. Ms. Troiano informed the council that she would like to donate her prize to a healthcare worker and a new contest was born. We put the word out for nominations and Ms. Troiano was to choose one winner to give her prize to.
The nominations came pouring in and there were so many deserving entries that South County Tourism Council President, Louise Bishop, decided to donate a second, identical South County getaway package and allow Ms. Troiano to choose two winners. “It was a difficult decision,” said Ms. Troiano, “all the entries were deserving, but I narrowed it down to two.”
Ms. Troiano donated her South County getaway prize to Coby Myrtle, a cancer survivor who has worked in the healthcare industry for more than 29 years. Even while still undergoing cancer treatments, she returned to work as a nurse just before the pandemic hit and continued working throughout the surge of the virus. Coby was nominated by her children. Her daughter Kathryn wrote, “She has always shown us what hard work means. In 2018, our mom was diagnosed with lymphoma. We watched her go through chemotherapy and other treatments, all while doing everything she could do to continue being a great mom. She is so strong. Even though she needs to continue cancer treatments every few months, she returned back to work as a nurse, just before the pandemic began. She has done nothing but work hard throughout her life, especially during this pandemic, and we think she deserves a vacation.” Ms. Myrtle said, “I am so touched. It is the amazing incredible kindness of others humbles us and keeps us going.”
Ms. Troiano chose to donate the second prize package (identical to the first) to Mary Lamoureaux, a registered nurse at the Alpine Nursing Home in Coventry for 23 years. Mary was nominated by her husband, Rick, who said of his wife’s devotion to her job, “At the end of every day she was the image we all saw on the TV of the nurses/doctors with the red marks on their faces from face masks, foggy glasses, and sweat. Alpine had their first case of COVID at the end of November and then it went through the whole facility. Mary contracted it in early December (mild symptoms that still linger) and was out of work for two weeks. She had to quarantine in a different part of the house. Prior to and after her quarantine, she has picked up many shifts to help cover while other staff was out with COVID and in quarantine.”
Both prize packages include a two-night stay at the Margin Street Inn, a HeliBlock southern coast tour, a $50 gift card to Amigos Taqueria and a $25 gift card to B&B Dockside.
“We were so very moved by all the entries,” says Louise Bishop, President of South County Tourism Council. “We knew Anna had a tough choice to make and we were happy to be able to donate a second duplicate prize package and give one more deserving person a South County vacation.”
The South County Tourism Council is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the towns of Charlestown, Coventry, East Greenwich, Exeter, Hopkinton, Narragansett, North Kingstown, Richmond, South Kingstown, West Greenwich and Westerly as a single leisure travel destination known as “South County”. For more information, please visit www.southcountyri.com.
