Sydneysiders lined up for hours this morning to get a slice of billionaire Adrian Portelli’s $150,000 giveaway, with the lucky recipients telling 9news.com.au they plan to use the money to alleviate cost of living pressures.
The property investor and founder of shopping and rewards club LMCT+ announced he would be handing out $100 and $200 Coles vouchers at two western Sydney locations today – Penrith and Fairfield West – on his Instagram story yesterday.
Chaos consumed the Coles at Fairfield West, where more than 1000 people tried to queue up this morning. Some hopefuls had to be turned away due to the capacity.
One Coles worker said it was the “craziest day” she has worked in her 25 years.
Meliama Kaafi got up bright and early to be one of the first people in line at 6am.
She said she would use her voucher on her children.
“I have seven kids so this will be good for them this Christmas,” she said.
Every voucher holder 9news.com.au spoke to had the same plan for how they would use the money.
“Groceries, meat, vegetables, essentials,” Terry Piggott said.
“School holidays are around the corner, $200 is going to do a lot for us. Food, more essentials, groceries, cleaning,” Kathryn Elia said.
“I have three children, (it) definitely will make a big difference,” Manthana Abreu said.
For one woman, the voucher couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It means a lot, my account was $44 in debit this morning,” Nicole Futcher said.
Crowds of people cheered “thank you” and clapped for Portelli as he made his way around the queue, which stretched around the building.
“Really great, it’s unreal. They should get more billionaires in here to help,” Piggot said.
“I’m so lucky,” Abreu said.
“We all appreciate it coming up to Christmas,” Elia said.
Portelli said it was his “absolute pleasure to be able to help out”.
“It’s just the assistance these people need, Christmas is fast approaching, cost of living is through the roof so those $200 and $100 will go a long way,” he told 9news.com.au.
“Coming out here really hits a soft spot, hearing all those stories from these people and how emotional they are just to receive the $200 and $100 gift cards is incredible.
“It’ll help them get through the week and put food on the table for the kids and they don’t know how they’re going to feed their families.”
Portelli has already offered similar giveaways in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
He’ll be heading to Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia next.
“I’m happy to keep doing this annually, definitely,” he said.
