TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) - It’s not every day you get a call from a Super Bowl champion, but that’s exactly what happened to a military veteran in Tampa who was chosen at random to meet Rob Gronkowski, and it ended up being the surprise of a lifetime.
Cameras showed Dawn Atkinson-Jones as she embraced Gronkowski and his girlfriend, Camille Kostek on Wednesday.
“Nice to finally meet you,” said Kostek.
“Congratulations,” said Gronkowski.
The Tampa-based vet said she still can’t believe her good fortune.
“I don’t even play Lotto because I’m so unlucky,” she said.
But luck revved right up for the Tampa resident.
“We loved Brady and Gronk. I liked them when they were with the Pats, but when they came to the Bucs, that was even better. Like, that was my dream,” she said.
Supporting the causes that Gronkowski and his girlfriend Camille Kostek champion was a no-brainer. One of the causes they support raises awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
“I go to the VA out at James Haley here in Tampa to get all of my health treatment, and there’s a lot of people out there that I talked to that have ALS,” said Atkinson-Jones.
So the military veteran made a donation though the platform Voomerang, not once imagining it would come back to her in the ways it did.
“For a week, I kept getting these calls from this number.” she said.
Lo and behold, Atkinson-Jones won Gronkowski and Kostek’s first giveaway: a classic renovated 1974 Corvette and a brand-new Corvette that she intended to gift to her father.
“She had told us on our FaceTime, when we met her, that she had actually put a picture of an old school Corvette in her dad’s stocking for Christmas, before she had even won the Corvettes,” said Kostek.
It all seemed a little less like luck and more like fate.
“It was fate, and I’m all about the veterans,” said Gronkowski. “I believe they are true heroes, you know, protecting our freedom, protecting our country and giving us the right to do what we love.”
The surprise continued to grow. Atkinson-Jones said she wanted to shine the spotlight on something bigger than herself. So she took Gronkowski and Kostek to visit a veterans hospital.
“They took time out of their day to be here, and they took time out of their day to come talk to us,” said Army veteran Ken Patterson. “They spent a lot of time with us and signing autographs.”
“Just to talk to them about, you know, what sports they play, what activities they do, I mean, it just brings joy to everyone,” said Gronkowski
Brining joy to all of these people, thanks to one donation.
“If this isn’t God ordained in some way. All of these people are together for a reason,” said Atkinson-Jones .
Atkinson-Jones continues to pay it forward, Instead of keeping the second Corvette for herself, she ended up gifting it to her son.
She also said that being able to bring joy and support for the veteran community is the biggest reward of the experience.
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