Sonoma Valley High math teacher wins grand prize in national sweepstakes

Sonoma Valley High School math teacher Carrenne Purtell, 40, won a new 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid XLE on July 26.

The Save Mart Companies is a cosponsor of the Toyota Save Mart 350 NASCAR race and hosts the annual “Chase the Savings” sweepstakes. During the NASCAR event this June at Sonoma Raceway, Lucky and Save Mart customers from all stores enter the sweepstakes with the hopes of earning part of the $350,000 in prizes. The RAV4, valued at $30,000, is the grand prize.

According to Save Mart’s corporate office, “tens of thousands” customers entered the sweepstakes in 2019 from more than 150 Lucky, Lucky California and Save Mart locations.

“Words cannot describe how excited I am to see Carrenne win the grand prize,” said Anna Olivo, Sonoma Lucky store manager, in the press release announcing the sweepstakes. “She is one of our top shoppers. It was my honor to present the RAV4 Hybrid to her and her family.”

Purtell has been a teacher for 17 years and at SVHS since 2010. She grew up in Sonoma as Carrenne Wojciechowski and attended Flowery Elementary and Altimira Middle schools before graduating from SVHS in 1997.

“I’ve never won anything before, and honestly I didn’t even know that there were ‘real’ winners for things like this,” said Purtell. “I was super surprised and shocked.”

On July 26, Olivo presented Carrenne and her family with the vehicle at Sonoma Raceway. Purtell also got the opportunity to test drive her new vehicle on the track as bystanders cheered her on.