California Family Wins 'Deck the House' Contest, $100,000 for School District

Patch's “Deck the House” contest is over and a California family earned not only bragging rights, but can take credit for a $100,000 donation to the courtesy of Patch.com.

And while the Powell family of Davis was technically the winner of the Deck the House contest, one of Powells is saying the win belongs to the city.

“We all won,” she said. “There are a lot of needs at the schools. This is not going to fix it all, but it will help. This is a blessing.”

Powell entered her home in Patch's national Deck the House contest during the holidays and was selected as . Davis jumped out to a massive lead the moment voting opened up, thanks to support and constant effort by the community, both online and on the streets.

Powell even had her kids and some of their friends hand out hundreds of flyers downtown. The divided up in two teams swept downtown. When they were done, they were treated to . And then they enjoyed the sense of accomplishment as the votes piled up shortly after. 

Now that the contest is over and the Powell home has won, the family has begun to take down their lights. Excitement has consumed Kristy's Facebook wall as well as her home. 

“Neighbors came over with a bottle of champagne,” Kristy Powell said. “And another family from Wildhorse just came over and said ‘Surprise!’ We had never met them.”

School Superintendent Winfred Roberson asked the Powells how they’d like to see the money spent. They said they trust the district's decision.

In Avon Lake,