When Albertson resident Bobby Morovati encouraged his five-year-old son Kaiden to sell chocolates and gifts to neighbors and family to raise money for the Willis Avenue School, he had no idea there would be a $25,000 payoff from it.
Morovati said he thought the fundraising would be a good way for his son, a kindergarten student at the Willis Avenue School, to gain self-confidence in speaking with people.
“I figured it would help the school since it’s a fundraiser. He was very much into it,” Morovati said.
When Morovati filed the order for the products Kaiden had sold on the Innisbrook Web site, he said he didn’t see the instant notification that his son had been randomly selected to receive the company’s $25,000 grand prize.
“Apparently there must have been some sort of pop-up to say he was the grand prize winner. I must have not noticed,” he said.
Even after he was notified by Innisbrook Wraps in October that his son had been selected for the grand prize, Morovati said he couldn’t quite believe it.
Morovati said that when he received a phone call from Lori Aponte, Innisbrook’s representative in Nassau County, he didn’t understand at first what she was calling about. He said he started to worry that something had happened to his son at school, as she asked him questions about his relationship to the boy.
Finally, the message sunk in and he and his wife, Sanaz, were elated.
“My wife started screaming,” he recalled.
But even after receiving the news from Aponte, he said he and his wife were a bit skeptical.
“It was in the back of my mind. I said, ‘I’ll see it when I believe it’,” Morovati said.
Seeing was believing when the Morovatis were invited to a ceremony at the Willis Avenue School with Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler and Willis Avenue principal SueCaryl Fleischman for a presentation of an oversized representation of the check.
“The rest is history. The money is in his savings account and going for his college savings,” Morovati said.
He said Kaiden really can’t grasp the significance of the $25,000 and was focused on the electronic soccer ball and other prizes that were awarded separately for $300 in Innisbrook Wraps products he sold.
“He just understands that he got the recognition. He stood in front of all his classmates. He was concerned about getting the other prizes,” Morovati said.
When Kaiden had brought the catalogue home from school, his father explained to him what it was all about. He chaperoned him around their neighborhood, and Kaiden turned out to be an effective pitch-man.
“He did very well speaking with the neighbors. I was very impressed with the way explained it,” Morovati said.
Morovati said he’s very pleased with the unexpected result from this first-time experience for he and his son.
“This was really the first time I had done anything of this nature,” he said.
Aponte was also pleased that the grand prize winner was from the local area.
“This is the first year we had this tremendous prize. I was in shock and thrilled to death that it was in one of my schools,” she said.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204
