Lottery draw is 80 per cent sold out
Published Friday November 27th, 2009
SAINT JOHN - There's just one week left to buy a ticket in the Hospital Home Lottery and have your chance at winning a dream home at Drury Cove.
The $750,000 rustic-style home is the grand prize in the second annual lottery, which raises money for the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation, New Brunswick Heart Centre and Mindcare.
"We're quite anxious and I think the ticket buyers are anxious, too," said Tim Cameron, executive director of the hospital foundation.
More than 15,000 people have toured the furnished and landscaped home, which includes a hot tub, exposed wood beams and a 360-degree fireplace.
The draw for the home - and 1,250 other prizes - closes midnight Dec. 3.
"It's a unique house and there were lots of opinions," Cameron said. "It's funny when they get a dream of winning they get thinking of what they'd do and what furniture they'd move where. It's all part of the dream."
The early bird deadline for a 2010 Lexus IS 250 and $5,000 was Nov. 19, with the draw happening Tuesday.
The draw for all but the top two prizes - the home and a Toyota Tundra - happens on Dec. 10, and it's an all-day affair.
"With 1,250 prizes, you don't just pull (tickets) out and write the names down - it's quite a detailed process. You're eligible for every prize."
Winners for the top two prizes are drawn Dec. 15 at 1 p.m. at the home at 111 Deer Glen Dr. The draw also airs on Live at 5 on CTV Atlantic.
Tickets cost $100 each, or three can be purchased for $250. Chances of winning are one in 20.
Other vehicle prizes include a Volkswagen City Golf and a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide. There are also five luxury trips, hundreds of electronics, and outdoor gear.
Last year's lottery raised $640,000 for New Brunswick health care. It supported areas like mental health and brachytherapy, which is a type of radiation therapy used to treat prostate cancer.
This year, the foundation hopes to raise more than $700,000.
Cameron said more than 80 per cent of the tickets are sold out. Twenty-five thousand tickets were printed - 3,000 more than last year.
Carol Gould and her daughter-in-law Rita Egglefield of Nauwigewauk won last year's home, also at Drury Cove.
"There's excitement here at the hospital," Cameron said. "It's not money that's connected to any kind of revenue stream we had before."
In the past, different departments have asked the foundation to raise money, but it takes time. With the lottery funds, money is available right away.
"We had some really exciting projects in front of us - for oncology, for the New Brunswick Heart Centre, the new trauma station in the ER - they all have some relatively urgent needs, but really exciting projects to us," Cameron said, adding it will be difficult to decide which projects receive funding.
One example is the emergency room. It wants a portable X-Ray machine, which would save time in traumatic situations.
"Everybody will be pleased by this because we're all going to benefit from this," Cameron said.
"A lot of people who came to the house are interested in health care. It's people who are not just interested in another draw"¦they're happy to see their money go to something they wouldn't have if it weren't for this draw."
A list of all winners will be published Dec. 23 in the Telegraph-Journal.
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
Comments (2)
All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.
Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.