Richard Layton Brown saw an ad on Instagram for Gesa Credit Union’s Refer-a-Friend giveaway. 

The Kennewick man was looking to open a new bank account, and his grandmother, Bernadean Farris, was a faithful Gesa member. She first joined in 1975. 

“He said, ‘Should I fill that out?’ And I said, ‘Won’t hurt anything. Go ahead and fill it out,’” Farris, 93, of Kennewick, later recalled in a video posted to social media. 

Brown did sign up for the giveaway. And now he and Farris are both $25,000 richer. 

The grandmother-grandson duo were winners in the Gesa promotion that runs through Dec. 31.  

New Gesa members who are referred by a current member and have a promo code must open a savings account, a SmartPlus Checking account and a consumer debit card, and then every swipe by the new member means one entry into the monthly $50,000 giveaway, Gesa said in a statement. 

The money is split evenly between the new member and the referring member. 

The monthly contest started in August. A final grand prize drawing – that prize is $35,000 each – is Jan. 2 from all entries in December.  

For details on the program, go to gesa.com/promotions/refer-a-friend-giveaway/ 

In the video, Farris and Brown describe how they learned they’d won. 

“My youngest son called me and said, ‘Mom, look at your email.’ So, I started looking at my email ... I had to sit, for real. That’s when I started crying,” Farris said.  

Brown happened to call his mother. “She was like, ‘Wait, you didn’t hear the news?’ I was like, ‘What news?’” Brown said. His mother urged him to call Farris. 

“So, then I called Grandma ... She was like, ‘We won! We won! It’s a miracle!’” Brown said. 

The grandmother and grandson claimed their winnings at Gesa’s South Kennewick branch. 

They seemed thrilled by the win – and the fact that it’s something they did together. 

“He’s my grandson, but he’s a friend also,” Farris said in the video. 

Brown added that, “We are definitely friends, Grandma and I.”