Yahoo Finance Buying a coffee lands Aussie dad on brink of selling home 'life-changing' $40,000 jackpot
A horror accident left this Australian father unable to work, but he landed an amazing lifeline.
Soaring mortgage repayments had Melbourne father Scott Edwards considering selling his family home. He was out of work after a career-ending injury five and a half years ago and feared he wouldn't be able to cope with his $300,000 debt.
Like millions of Australians, the 57-year-old was bracing for the end of his fixed-rate next year. But a simple routine he formed as part of his recovery ended up landing him a "life-changing" $40,000 prize from his favourite coffee shop, Soul Origin.
“The combination of income reduction and high interest rates meant that I was going to struggle,” he told Yahoo Finance.
“I think I may have actually had to sell up. I just couldn’t afford it anymore. So this win is perfect. It’s just what I needed to sort the situation out.”
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Life changing accident
The 57-year-old had been working on installing cables for the National Broadband Network when he suffered the “lifting accident”.
“I was out on the street trying to open a pit and I tore my shoulder,” he said. “Both my shoulders gave out in the end.”
That was five and a half years ago.
“I tried to keep working for as long as I could, but I never recovered from the multiple surgeries I had and a year and a half ago I just couldn't manage it any more,” Edwards said.
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“My hours were getting less and less and I was just going downhill.”
Whilst he now receives incapacity payments, leaving the workforce permanently has been a “financial blow” for Edwards and his family.
“I could have coped with the mortgage that way, but what was the killer was those interest rate increases,” the father-of-one said.
Struggling to keep a roof over their heads, after almost 10 years, Edwards was considering selling the family home — a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property in Altona Meadows, in Melbourne’s southwest.
Coffee addiction pays off
Unable to work anyway and determined not just to sit around home “feeling sorry” for himself, Edwards — who lives with his wife and 17-year-old son — began walking.
“I was going to Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong to exercise because of my injuries,” he explained.
“I would go there seven days a week and I would walk 10 to 15 kilometres inside the shopping centre per day.
“It’s like, I just can’t give up hope. You know, my legs still work.”
Along the way, Edwards had been picking up coffee multiple times a day from Soul Origin, which had launched a competition earlier this year to reward one of its Loyalty Members across Australia with a life-changing prize.
A chance to win $40,000 towards housing expenses for the remainder of the year.
“If you’re going to pick a prize to win right now during this economic environment, I would say that would be it,” said Edwards, who scored an entry to the competition every time he spent $5 in store.
“I'm quite a coffee maniac so I drink a lot of coffee and I had quite a quite a number of entries.”
It all paid off for the 57-year-old when won the prize.
Soul Origin Managing Director Hao Quach said he was ecstatic for Edwards.
“We’re thrilled to be able to help Scott out with his mortgage during this tough time,” he said.
“Scott, big congrats from all of us! We hope this makes a difference for you and your family.”
