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A $750 Gamble Pays Off With a $1.5-Million Home

Winner of the Palos Verdes Art Center fundraiser has the option of getting $1 million instead.

By Ashley Powers
Times Staff Writer

           Paging Dr. Mildred Rey-Monroy:  A huge prize is waiting for you. When you return from Japan, could you claim your $1.5-million home?
           Rey-Monroy, a pediatrician in Paramount, snagged the top reward Saturday in the Palos Verdes Art Center’s fundraising raffle: a four-bedroom, ranch-style casa with views of Santa Catalina Island.
           The doctor is on vacation until Tuesday, her medical assistant said, an ocean away from raffle organizers and nosy newspaper reporters.
           Rey-Monroy purchased five $150 tickets for the raffle, vying with participants from 40 states who bought 20,000 tickets for a shot at the 2,800-square-foot house.
           The raffle in its third year, offered a gamble on a $1.5-million white house in the South Bay equestrian community of Rolling Hills Estates. Its description reads like a Realtor’s dream:  three fireplaces, three-car garage, hardwood floors, redwood deck with spa and a large yard with citrus trees hemmed with a fence and wrought-iron gate.
           But there’s a catch.
           If Rey-Monroy takes the home, she must turn over 28% of its value to the government – nearly $420,000, about the median home price in Los Angeles County. Or she could opt out of the house and claim $1 million in cash, forking over about $280,000 to the tax folks.
           Doctor, we’re waiting. You have until May 27 to make up your mind.
           Last year’s winner, Bhavesh “Bobby” Bhagat rents out his pricey abode. The winner before him, John Moungian, pocketed the cash.
           The people who bet on the drawing – one person hoarded 34 tickets – don’t dawdle on such complications. They simply dream of owning a plot with an ocean view.
           It “is the epitome of Southern California,” said Michael Mabon, 41, who lives with his wife, Patricia, and her mother in a two-bedroom Bellflower apartment. “You can look at the ocean for free – when the sun’s setting, when the sun’s rising.”
           The Mabons bought two tickets and stood with more than 100 hopefuls at a Rolling Hills Estates shopping center.
           Two men rotated a giant plastic drum of blue tickets, and the art center’s accountant fished for winners.
           "In our minds, $300 is not a big investment,” Mabon said. “Three hundred dollars is affordable – a house is not.”
           He and his wife left empty-handed.
           The raffle idea came to the center with director Robert A. Yassin, who had used such a fundraiser at the Tucson Museum of Art in 1992.
           Its directors were wary at first, he said:  What if no one bought tickets and the museum got stuck with a house? The Tucson fundraiser was a smash.
           Its South Bay spinoff has netted the Palos Verdes Art Center about $1 million each time. Past proceeds allowed the nonprofit group to fix the roof of its headquarters. This year’s take will probably be used for a new facility.
           Ticket sales for the 2005 event totaled $3 million.
           One donation came from Christina Birnbaum, who drove to the shopping center with her husband and their two children from Wildomar in Riverside County.
           Along the way, Birnbaum couldn’t help daydreaming about the possibilities.
           "You know:  what the house would be like, who would get what bedroom. We saw the school and I told my daughter, ‘That would be your school,’” said Birnbaum, 35, whose family lives in a three-bedroom home.
           Her husband was skeptical. But Birnbaum’s tarot card reader had said money would turn up near June, and it did.
           The couple pocketed $300, one of 199 monetary prizes the art center awarded.
           “We’d rather win the house,” Michael Birnbaum admitted.
           At 11:56 a.m., Yassin announced the top prize winner. The hopefuls clapped politely and emptied their folding chairs.
           Yassin dial a cellphone. “Hello?”
           He tried Rey-Monroy again and left a message. “She has won our raffle. Please call the art center…”
           The hubbub reminded organizers of last year, when it took three phone calls to convince Bhagat, the winner, that they weren’t his friends pretending he had scored a swank home.
           Doctor, it’s not a joke. Party at your new place?

Copyright, 2005, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted with permission.

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2005 Win Your Dream Home Raffle Winners:

$1,500,000* Palos Verdes Dream Home or $1,000,000 cash
Dr. M.A. Mildred Rey-Monroy - Paramount, CA

$25,000 second prize
Gregory Winters & Rebecca Engel-Winters - Santa Monica, CA

$10,000 third prize
Tom Moroney & Tom Dunham - Hermosa Beach. CA

$5,000 fourth prize
Fernando Zanate & Virginia Nava Manrique - Los Angeles, CA

$2,000 fifth prize
Katha Jones - Sherman Oaks, CA

$1,000 each
Glen T. & Dorothy H. Church - Irvine, CA
Beverly Farfsing - Pasadena, CA
Rene Farrington - San Pedro, CA
Carolyn & Raymond Iwamoto - Redondo Beach, CA
Don & Diane Oueliette - Lompoc, CA

$500 each
Kevin Absnear - Torrance, CA
Jon M. & Faye T. Higashi - Torrance, CA
Linda Lim &Wes Louie - Redondo Beach, CA
Don Nakagiri, Felix Gogue, Wesley Watari &Bryan Iwata - Torrance, CA
Senlirenla & Siona Sen - Torrance, CA

$300 each
Linda Klint - Torrance, CA
Isaul Casillas & Rosa Jimenez - Hacienda Heights, CA
Kurt Neumann - Manhattan Beach, CA
Mary Stocksdale - Huntington Beach, CA
Michael Winn - Monrovia CA
Rada Mosley-Culberson & Ray Culberson - Alta Loma, CA
Max Johnson - Los Angeles, CA
Val Wilson - Orange, CA
Robin Turner - Culver City, CA
Tina Leon - Seal Beach, CA
Michael Rosen - Westchester, CA
Ken Hartley - Playa del Rey, CA
Bu Jun Bae - Los Angeles, CA
Thuy Ho - Annandale, VA
Steve Blasco - Huntington Beach, CA
Shahbaz Shahbazian - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Lorraine Moog - Port Jefferson Station, NY
Richard Schmidt - Ventura, CA
Lucien Moreno - Huntington Beach, CA
Robert Gelhart - Los Flores, CA
Timothy Brown - Long Beach, CA
Patrick Pidgeon - N. Hollywood, CA
Jerei Amans - Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
John Orienza - Torrance, CA
Michael & Caroline Cavallaro - Granada Hills, CA
Robert Garcia - Long Beach, CA
Won Na Ng - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Gary Woodson - Lomita, CA
Steven & Sharon Oda - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Jaime Machuca & Angelina Robles - Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Kathleen Foley - Garden Grove, CA
Mahajan Family - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Joel Komjathy - Torrance, CA
Evelyn & Russell Cervantes - Hemet, CA
Thomas Bolch - Torrance, CA
James Davis - Hawthorne, CA
Craig Snaguski - Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA
Andre McDaniel - Los Angeles, CA
Dorothy Thompson - Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Clara Hope - Long Beach, CA
Darrell Hulse - Aliso Viejo, CA
Gloria L. Mahoney & Haydee Fuhs - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Evelyn Wallick - Long Beach, CA
Frances Meyers & Lynn F. Wilkins - Long Beach, CA
Diane Anderson - Riverside, CA
Steven T. & Linda M. Parker - Fountain Valley, CA
Robert DeVries - Long Beach, CA
Oral Elrington - Los Angeles, CA
Christine & Jerrell Monroe - Lakewood, CA
Richard Kobayashi - Gardena, CA
Jamil Kenaan - Lomita, CA
Fred Grant - Manhattan Beach, CA
Paul McKinney & Suzi Nason - Playa del Rey, CA
Vu Vinh - Irvine, CA
Fortunato & Judy Raygoza - Lake Forest, CA
Janice Forte - Alta Loma, CA
Deborah Brickett - Rancho Dominguez, CA
Danise Gembaca & Anita Rosenberg - Valencia, CA
Suzanne Miller - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Susan Lash - Rolling Hills Estates, CA
Jeffrey & Rose Fe Prater - Van Nuys, CA
Susan DeLaPena - Torrance, CA
David Garden - N. Hollywood, CA
Claudia Moffitt, Michael Moffitt, Paul Schneider & Gundula Schneider - Torrance, CA
Marie Brettnacher - Redondo Beach, CA
Ray Salazar - Van Nuys, CA
Eileen M. Nagase & Joseph H. Brennan - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Craig Geyer - Goleta, CA
Ruth Gooden - San Pedro, CA
Frederic Douglas, Elena H. Douglass, Linda V. Douglas,
Paloma Douglas & Lauretta Cutler - Irvine, CA
Nancy Zuliani & Betty Zuliani - San Pedro, CA
Freddie Luevanos - San Pedro, CA
Burt & Therese Scholin - Corona, CA
Julie Bigelow - Redondo Beach, CA
Patrick Spinosa, Cathy Portnall & Linda Ursic - San Pedro, CA
Inga Orebo- San Pedro, CA
Don Tran - El Monte, CA
Jim & L.J. Jennings - Lomita, CA
John McCaffrey & Helen Neal-McCaffrey - Huntington Beach, CA
Joyce & Wayne Slagle & Frank & Barbara Emandes - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Lisa Whatcott & Gina Steverson - Vista, CA
Darlene Barber - Costa Mesa, CA
John Dowdy - Laguna Beach, CA
James Williams - Laguna Niguel, CA
Carol Williams - Long Beach, CA
Vaag Oganyan - Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Jennie L. Beach & Jessica R. Mills - Garden Grove, CA
Ray Kim, Kelly Lane & Andi Larsoni - Long Beach, CA
George Morgan - Signal Hill, CA
Clark Lehigh - Maple Valley, WA
Edward Parra - Torrance, CA
Cynthia Meekins - Lakewood, CA
Patricia Frazier & Karen Miller - Lomita, CA
Dien-Trang Ngo - Huntington Beach, CA
Kimberley Foley - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Ted Cherep - Placentia, CA
Michael Richard & Thu Anh Birnbaum - Wildomar, CA
Robert Dirk deVries - Long Beach, CA
Mae E. Lollis & George Lachapelle - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Christine Gaian - Redondo Beach, CA
Alberto Mones DeOco - Whittier, CA
Roland & Brigitte Dalcourt - Huntington Beach, CA
Esther Farrero - Hollywood, CA
Sherry Gourdin - Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Rosie Becerra - Torrance, CA
Susan Herrara & Leo Quiroz - Granada Hills, CA
Jeff Chamberlin - Mission Viejo, CA
Henry Houck - Redondo Beach, CA
Barbara Clevenger et al - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Megan McElroy - San Pedro, CA
Leo Cipa - Los Angeles, CA
Cynthia Berwyn - Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Janice Holland - Los Angeles, CA
Tommy M. & Myung Sook Segawa - Los Angeles, CA
David Takagawa & Bruce Frailich - Torrance, CA
Donna & Glenn Feiga - Gardena, CA
Grace Raines - Hemet, CA
Laurel B. Greenman, Leslie Brown & Sandeep Chordia - Los Angeles, CA
Jeffrey & Rose Fe Prater - Van Nuys, CA
Manuel Villarreal - El Monte, CA
Mario Villarreal - Moreno Valley, CA
Tom & Valerie Stone - Palmdale, CA
Cedric Clarke - Long Beach, CA
Janet Yoshimi, Patrick Nakamichi & Carl Iwanaga - Montebello, CA
John & Ayne Baker - Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Tiffani Zanelli - San Pedro, CA
John Murnane - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Pamela & Kenneth Erickson - Austin, TX
James Herron - Los Angeles, CA
Annette Caplan - Rolling Hills Estates, CA
Brendan Bencharit - Northridge, CA
Florence Rhoden - Long Beach, CA
Carrie Lautner - Redondo Beach, CA
Daren Sherman - Woodland Hills, CA
Joan Albershardt - Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Barbara M. Dennis & Christina Selinger - Marina del Rey, CA
Alma Uribe - Orange, CA - La Verne, CA
Stephanie Reagan - San Pedro, CA
Jesus Mejia - Temple City, CA
Emiko Kibota - Torrance, CA
Jacqui Parish - Culver City, CA
Art Whitlock - Lomita, CA
Miguel Ojeda - West Covina, CA
Ramona & Alan Burin - San Pedro, CA
Laura Frederick & Brian Williams - Lawndale, CA
Teca Arriaga - Whittier, CA
Angie Mercuri - Anaheim, CA
Joseph Valerio - Long Beach, CA
Ronald & Naomi Kageyama - Marina del Rey, CA
Peter Winston - Westlake Village, CA
Marsha Sweet - Los Angeles, CA
Dorothy R. Okoye, Delores F. Camacho & Kate Monfort - Los Angeles, CA
William Eggebrecht - Oak Park, CA
James & Teiko Miyoshi - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Bernadette Brown & Carole Spellberg - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Hyun Song - Los Angeles, CA
Pamela McMartin - Beaumont, CA
Tin Nguyen - Westminster, CA
Mark Miller & George Miller - Downey, CA
Carole & James Larkins - Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Robert & Helen Lewis - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Stephanie Johnson - Lancaster, CA
Kathy & Dieter Ahlers - Corona, CA
Thomas A. & Sophia A. Garbin - Garden Grove, CA
Olga Krestyn & Gary Pierce - Encino, CA
Renato Natarangolo & Elizabeth Lawrence - Los Angeles, CA
Rachel R. & Kevin Corcoran - Venice, CA
Diana Gregory - Carlsbad, CA
Vincent Padilla - Upland, CA
Lee A. Templeton & Christine R. Binda - Thousand Oaks, CA
Trisha Ashcraft & Melanie Fisher - Vista, CA
Tony Soria - Bell Canyon, CA
Leddie Oplado - Torrance, CA
Steve & Lisa Kerr - Oxnard, CA
Lisa Navarro - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Annabel Tsui - Beverly Hills, CA
Frederick & Marta Thomas - Palos Verdes, CA
Travis Graves - Gardena, CA
H.S. Han, Y. Brown & B. Preyer - San Pedro, CA
Belita Michnowicz - Torrance, CA
Donald Bowley - Corona, CA
Charles Graddy - Long Beach, CA
Linda Younger - Redondo Beach, CA
Dennis & Marita Johnson - Valley Village, CA
Tranh & Bich Nguyen - La Verne, CA

Early-Early Bird Drawing #1:

• Shari Poindexter of Studio City, CA = $25,000
• Edgar Diaz & Others of Whittier, CA = $1,000
• Eddie Hwang of Ojai, CA = $1,000
• Anthony Lau of Los Angeles, CA = $1,000
• Maria J & Elizabeth A. Russell of Palos Verdes Estates, CA = $1,000
• Ned & Nora Salcido of San Pedro, CA   = $1,000

Early Bird Drawing #2:

• Michelle, Mary Jane & Florentina Sambile of North Hills, CA = First Prize: $25,000
• Sal & Melody Intagliata of Palos Verdes Estates, CA = Second Prize: $5,000    
• Betty Fusan of Granada Hills, CA = Third Prize: $2,500
• Leigh McArthur of Torrance, CA = Fourth Prize: $1,500
• Virginia Robles of Long Beach, CA = Fifth Prize: $1,000

Second Prize: $25,000
Third  Click Here to go back to L.A. Times Article Prize: $10,000
FourPrize: $5,000
Fifth Prize: $2,000
Prizes 6 $1,es 11-15: $500 each
Prizes 16-200: $300 each