Jimmy And Gina Marie with Jason Pierre Paul
By Bill Hohlfeld
Monday, February 06, 2012
Jimmy Oliveira, proud member of Local 46, joined the Metallic Lathers in September, 2006. Besides being a Union member, he is also the proud father of a beautiful 7 year old little girl named Gina Marie.
In January, she entered Jimmy in a Fathers.com “Super Dad” Contest. The contest consisted of entering a 90 second video about why your dad is a Super Dad and why you should go to the Super Bowl with him. The videos would then be posted on a website where people could view them and vote by liking them. ( If you missed the video, you can still see it by going to http://www.parents.com/blogs/dadabase/2012/02/01/home-life/spotlight-on-dads-jimmy-oliveira-a-giant-ny-giants-fan/).
The competition was stiff, as there was no shortage of entries. But, with the help of family and friends, Gina Marie’s video made it to the final round. The final round narrowed the field down to three videos, and only one of those videos would be chosen as the winner, by a panel of judges at fathers.com That’s when Jimmy called the Local 46 LMCT and asked that we put an announcement on our web site asking our members to “like” Gina Marie’s tribute to her dad. The decision was, as they say, a “no-brainer” and the technical task was immediately assigned to IT Coordinator, Bill Even. Local 46 members, in turn responded to the call of a brother, and "liked" the video.
Days went by; the suspense mounted. Would Jimmy and Gina Marie win the grand prize, two tickets to the Super Bowl? Finally, Jimmy received a phone call from the CEO, of Fathers.com, Carey Casey. At first, Jimmy thought they had lost, then Casey said, "Congratulations, you are the winner of the Super Dad contest." They were going to the Super Bowl and so were the NEW YORK GIANTS!
Jimmy immediately went to Gina Marie's school to tell her. She jumped in his arms and after some tears said "Great, when are we leaving?" The answer was Friday.
With the help of family, friends, and some Union brothers and sisters, they rented an RV and left for their journey to the Super Bowl. The experience is still sinking in for Jimmy and his daughter. They were interviewed by local news reporters before they left. “This is something that both my little girl and I will remember for the rest of our lives,” said Jimmy. Gina Marie said she felt like a star.
When they arrived in Indianapolis, in their NEW YORK GIANT'S decorated RV they did a Saturday morning News interview, and that’s when the representative from Fathers.com presented them with their tickets. He told the father- daughter duo that they would be sitting 4th row from the field on the Giants' side, in the Hall of Fame section.
The next morning after attending church, they headed for the game. According to Jimmy, he had the best seat in the house, because it was next to his little girl. As the game went on Gina looked up at her father and said "Daddy, they have to do this for us. They just have too. They are only down by two and they can." Father and daughter had their prayers answered. Eli moved our team down the field. Touchdown! The Giants defense stayed strong on the final drive, and they did it. THE GIANTS BECAME WORLD CHAMPIONS!
As the families of the players made their way down the field, Jimmy and Gina were included. Before they knew it, they were catching the confetti falling from the sky. Gina Marie has been going to the games since she was 18 months old, and now she was at the Super Bowl! The two were speechless partly because of shock and partly because they’d lost their voices from cheering. It was an experience that they will both treasure forever.
Jimmy thanks all of his family, friends,Local 46, and of course Fathers.com for making this all possible. For this father daughter team, dreams really do come true.
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