How does it feel to get a tank of free gas?
"Blessed!" said Valerie White, 22, first in line at 7 this morning at a Columbus Boulevard BP where Philadelphia boxing legend Bernard Hopkins, Power 99 and Boost Mobile were doing a joint promotion that let 132 cars get up to $50 in fuel without paying a penny.
White got lucky. After finishing her night shift at an airport Thrifty car rental, she picked up her mother at the hospital and had to stop for gas.
"I was on 'E' when I got here," said the daughter, who lives in Southwest Philadelphia.
Her mother, April, 44, sitting in the passenger seat, said she had stomach trouble, but felt better.
Getting more than $40 in free gas helped.
Other folks were smiling, too.
Drema Ricco, 54, of South Philadelphia, was No. 18. She hurt her knee recently while working at Home Depot, and was on her way to therapy in a gas-guzzling Dodge Dakota.
"This is about as therapeutic as it can get, because it made me happy," she said of the event, as she handed a key to an attendant.
"I have a lock. In my neighborhood, they steal gas," she said.
The skinny, head-shaven Hopkins was the center of media attention in his black shirt, faded jeans and sneaks with images of skulls.
He talked about his education-oriented charity, the Bernard and Shirley Hopkins Make a Way Foundation, as well as his Oct. 18 pay-per-view fight in Atlantic City against Kelly Pavlik.
He'll match any money donated by drivers today, in hopes of buying computers for selected city schools, he said. His foundation, whose name is a nod to the Make a Wish foundation, also helps students in other ways, such as improving school playgrounds and providing scholarships.
He created the nonprofit to honor his late mother.
"We're helping people at a crucial time," he said about the gas giveaway. This morning's event sends a positive message, he added: "There are people that care. Boost Mobile, they care. Bernard Hopkins cares."
Boost Mobile was paying for the gas, to help promote its $1-per-day prepaid cell phones, which have unlimited calling on nights and weekends, and optional push-to-talk capability, spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez explained.
Boost Mobile is also donating $5,000 to Make a Way.
Representing Power 99 was sports reporter Eddie F., who said the station has done free gas promotions before, so this event was a natural.
The station was also publicizing an even richer freebie - a Dodge Avenger, customized by Hopkins. The winner will be chosen in conjunction with the station's Oct. 24 "Powerhouse" concert at the Wachovia Center.
The last lucky customer, No. 132, was John Thomas at 9:02 a.m.