The Wait is over, loyal guest of Gastonia, SC Shane's wins Free Shane's Rib Shack For A Year!

A big win has Sharitha Grant planning to take her family out for Sunday meals. The Gastonia woman scored a year's worth of free meals at Shane's Rib Shack.

Craig Willers, manager at Shane's Rib Shack in Gastonia, awarded Grant a big hug and a $520 gift card last week. The gift card is enough for Grant to eat a $10 meal at Shane's every week for a full 12 months.

Grant won the grand prize through the restaurant's "Wait and Win" program in December. Willers said every December the restaurant gives customers a sealed envelope.

They can get an envelope each time they come in, he said. The customers have to hold on to that envelope without opening it until January. In January and February, they can return to Shane's and redeem their rewards.

Not all customers can stand the wait, Willers said. The ones who do get free food, shirts or gift cards.

"Good things come to those wait," he joked.

After Grant was awarded her freebies from the envelope, a code on her coupon entered her to win the grand prize of free Shane's for a year.

When Grant returned to the restaurant to pick up the big prize, she was ecstatic, Willers said.

"She was all smiles," he said. "And she brought her mother who was very happy, too."

Grant said the first thing that came to her mind when she found out she won was her 10-year-old son, Elisha Grant.

"Just the day before he had said to me, 'Mom, I love Shane's Rib Shack. We should eat there every day,'" she said.

The 10-year-old boy's favorite meal is the boneless teriyaki chicken wings.

Grant said she hopes to use the gift card to feed the whole family, three children and husband. Grant works third shift as an X-ray technician so coming home from work late on Sunday doesn't put her in a mood for cooking.

The big win will be a big help, she said.

And since she works in Rock Hill, where there is also a Shane's location, she says she'll be eating lots of Shane's Rib Shack.

The "Wait and Win" game will be back this December as well.

You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter @lbaheri.