PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – If you’ve ever won any type of prize, you know it can be pretty exciting.

Now, imagine winning a car.

One local family did just that while helping children in area hospitals.

It’s known as the place for smiles, but today, it wasn’t just the cookies bringing those smiles at an Eat’n Park restaurant in Homestead.

It was a brand new 2012 red Ford Focus.

The new ride belongs to the Brooks’ family of Autintown, Ohio and the best part is that it cost Ronald and Robin only $10 bucks.

The tickets were being sold to raise money for Eat’n Park’s Caring for Kids campaign.

It was selected by a patient at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, during the annual Free Care Friends Telethon in December.

“Exciting, never even thought in a million years that I would win a car, it was wonderful,” Robin Brooks said.

“Our old van had 259,000 miles on it and so it’s really a blessing and we got a 16-year-old that’s going to be driving here real soon and so just the savings in gas is amazing,” Ronald Brooks said.

Ronald has been battling medical problems. He said the new car will really help him travel back and forth between home and the hospital.

However, they aren’t the only winners in all of this.

Eat’n Park employees sold over 70,000 car raffle tickets.

Between that and other fundraising, they collected more than $413,000 for area children’s hospitals.

“We’ve been a part of this community for 62 years and its always been important for us to give back because we’ve received so much support from the community and this is the 32nd year for this campaign. So, this has been a long-standing tradition for Eat’n Park,” spokesman Kevin O’Connell said.

It’s a tradition Ford is also happy to be a part of.

The Neighborhood Ford Store donated the car that was raffled off.

“It’s such a blessing to see a winner like the Brooks’ that have won the car and it’s just a very good cause,” Neighborhood Ford Store spokesman Joe Thurby said.

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