To celebrate its sixth anniversary, Asia Buffet on Lee Highway is giving away a car.
Ringgold resident Calvin Parris, who lost both his home and cars during the storms that devastated his neighborhood April 27, was recently selected as a winner of a new 2011 Toyota Corolla, but other customers still have a chance to win. Another drawing for similar prizes will take place July 31.
Asia Buffet owner Michael Lin, left, shakes hands with Ringgold resident Calvin Parris in front of the new 2011 Toyota Corolla Parris won from a drawing to celebrate the restaurant’s recent anniversary on Lee Highway.“We are just glad that somebody won the car who exactly needed the car,” said Asia Buffet manager Grant Lee.
Parris said winning the new car from Asia Buffet and the cooperation and support of family, friends and even his insurance company is allowing him to recover more quickly.
“I went over there to eat and filled out the ticket and had no idea I would win,” said Parris, whose name was drawn during Asia Buffet’s prize drawing June 5. “When I went over there on Sunday, when they told me to come down and get the car, I thought they were fooling me. I couldn’t believe it.”
Parris was in Florida when the storms hit, but his wife, Norma, was taking shelter in the downstairs basement of their home on Cherokee Road when the tornado swept past. The raging winds knocked down and carried away half of the couple’s brick home, leaving only the basement and a few crumbling walls behind. Parris said they had a van, which was totaled, and a 1-ton truck, which is still in the shop for repairs. After receiving a call from his wife telling him she was safe, Parris hurried home from his fishing trip in a borrowed car to start picking up the pieces.
“She came out alive,” Parris said. “It was a blessing.”
The couple’s house is currently being rebuilt with new trusses now in place for the new first and second floor. Parris said the work should be completed in another three or four months. Until then, he and his wife are staying in a rental house in Tunnel Hill, Ga., that was provided by their homeowner’s insurance company.