SUQUAMISH — It was time for Vicky Enriquez to have some good luck.

Enriquez, a para-educator at Suquamish Elementary, endured her share of tragedies last year. Her husband Alberto died in a car accident and a daughter died in a fire.

Enriquez, who returned to work this year after a one-year leave of absence to be with her family, came back to a small piece of luck as she won a 1991 Ford Explorer as part of a raffle held by Hope4Youth.

Enriquez bought four raffle tickets at a garage sale for $20.

The tickets’ instructions told her to be at home on a certain day in order to find out if she had won.

Her son, Anthony, a senior at Chimacum High School, ribbed his mother some about that.

“He didn’t think I’d win,” Enriquez recalled. “He gave me a hard time about being home. But I stayed there anyway.”

It’s a good thing she did. Enriquez was there as the phone rang. Anthony answered. The first call was a man who said she was a finalist.

The second was Kent Phillips of STAR 101.5 and KOMO’s Northwest Afternoon, who was conducting an auction for Hope4Youth.

He told Enriquez she’d won.

“I was stunned,” said Enriquez. “I heard people in the background, and they were clapping.”

The 1991 Ford Explorer was delivered last Thursday.

It’s clean, runs well, and has four-wheel drive; the latter feature is a small blessing, said Enriquez, because her husband had driven her through the snow during Port Ludlow winters.

“He would drive me around,” she said. “He could drive me in the snow and do really good.”

She said of the Explorer, “It’s a good running vehicle, well-maintained, and very clean, inside and out.”

She said, “God was watching out for me.”

Now it’s son Anthony who’s receiving some teasing.

“He had to eat his words,” said Enriquez.