FORT CARSON – A Fort Carson Exchange shopper recently won an all-expenses-paid trip to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, to see the 2016 Ironman World Championship.

Exchange associates formally presented Olga Mendoza, of Colorado Springs, Colo., with the prize at the Fort Carson Exchange on June 11.

Mendoza was selected at random from more than 6,200 Army & Air Force Exchange Service shoppers worldwide who entered the Foster Grant Ironman Sweepstakes. The vacation package is valued at $4,700.

“When I first got the voicemail, I said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is real,’ because I’d never won anything,” she said. “When I came to the Exchange to accept the prize, they had a big display for me and everybody was giving me hugs. I felt like I was walking on clouds.”

Mendoza, who was born and raised in Russia, works for the 10 Special Forces Group at Fort Carson as a translator. Her husband, Felix, is an Army veteran with 26 years of service and two volunteer deployments to Iraq who retired in 2007. The two married in 2002.

Mendoza said while her husband will be too busy with work to accompany her on the trip, she plans to take her son, Alexey Morgun, as a surprise 24th birthday gift.

Wayne Hansen, general manager of the Fort Carson Exchange, said the Mendoza family is more than deserving of the vacation package.

“Enduring multiple deployments is a tremendous challenge not only for the Soldier in the field, but for the family he or she leaves at home,” he said. “The Exchange hopes this prize serves as a small token of our appreciation for the Mendoza family’s fortitude amid times of such tremendous selflessness and sacrifice.”

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The Army & Air Force Exchange Service goes where Soldiers, Airmen and their families go to improve the quality of their lives through goods and services provided. Exchange earnings provide dividends to support military morale, welfare and recreation programs. The Exchange is part of the Department of Defense and is directed by a Board of Directors, responsible to the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force through the Chiefs of Staff.  To find out more about the Exchange history and mission or to view recent press releases please visit our Web site at http://www.aafes.com/about-exchange/public-affairs/press-releases.htm or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ExchangePAO.

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