NORTHUMBERLAND — If you’ve ever wondered what happens if winners aren’t home when the Publishers Clearing House prize patrol shows up at their doors with balloons and a big check, ask Lee Shaffer.

Shaffer, 81, was at a bakery when two prize patrol members — carrying a dozen red roses, brightly colored balloons, champagne and an oversized check — pulled in front of his Northumberland home in their van.

“He didn’t win, did he?” Shaffer’s wife, Romaine, asked when she answered the door.

She called her husband at the bakery, told him the prize patrol was there and that he needed to drive home right away. Fifteen minutes later, he was pulling up to the house, and prize patrol members Maria Fermin and Patrice Amato gave him a check for $10,000.

“This really does happen,” he said with a smile. “I never expected this.”

The prize was part of a 101-city blitz, where 101 prizes of $10,000 were distributed across the country this week. The two women arrived in Pennsylvania on Monday and began their prize givaways in Greensburg, moving to Altoona, Waynesboro and ending in Northumberland County.

According to Publisher’s Clearing House online records, Shaffer appears to have won the biggest prize in the Central Susquehanna Valley in the last 23 years.

Hugs were exchanged and photos taken before Shaffer popped the cork of the champagne bottle, filling glasses and toasting his win. Amato said he was the first of her winners to open the bottle and celebrate right away.

Shaffer said he had been entering the contest since 1983.

“I was beginning to think I didn’t even stand a chance,” he said. “This is unbelievable.”

He often purchases plants, bulbs and magazines, and said he’s going to continue. He might even keep entering to win another prize. The money won will go toward his home.

“At our age, we’d like to downsize but don’t want to leave,” he said.

He and his wife have been living in the house since 1982.

People not being home to receive their prizes is common, the prize patrol members said. To avoid the situation, the prize patrol will find the house in the morning before the presentation and attempt to make sure the residents are home. They’ve even called people pretending to be someone else just to make sure they’re there.

Fermin said if they arrive, and no one is there, they will talk to neighbors or anyone they can find to help them track down the winners. Prizes have been delivered to individual’s work, restaurants, or if need be, a bakery.