The winners have been revealed in the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation’s inaugural lottery.
Travis Frank, the foundation’s interim executive director, announced the winners on Saturday night as part of the Estevan Showcase Business Expo at the Power Dodge Curling Centre.
An electronic system was used to determine the winners.
Wes and Linda Hanson won the grand prize, a 2018 Fiat 124 Spider Abarth convertible. Frank said it would be difficult to surrender the vehicle after driving it around the southeast for the previous three months in an effort to promote the lottery.
Numerous other prizes were also drawn, including the 50-50 draw. Nomer Diaz won the prize, which was worth $8,377.50.
Total revenues for the lottery were approximately $70,000. The exact net income for the fundraiser has yet to be determined, as expenses are still being tallied.
“Being in our first year, we’re very excited … to know that we can continue to work off of what we learned, and use our now-existing base of ticket buyers to grow hopefully in the future, and see where we can go,” said Frank.
During his one-year term as the foundation’s executive director, Frank said he wanted to try some different concepts for fundraisers, so that when permanent executive director Becky Conly returns from her one-year maternity leave, those fundraisers are in place.
“Whether we do this again next year, or whether we do something a little different is totally up to her and the direction of the board,” said Frank.
He’s confident that the lottery will become an annual fundraiser, although he’s not sure if a car will be the grand prize.
“It has proven to be a huge revenue generator, and something the hospital will definitely be considering,” said Frank.
Car lotteries have proven to be successful fundraisers elsewhere, he said.
“We wanted to base it off of that, and build off of their success, so that’s where the idea came from,” said Frank. “Now that we’ve gone through year one, we can take all of the information and all of the knowledge we’ve learned, tweak it to where we need so that we can continue to grow it.”
The funds raised will be directed towards the hospital foundation’s physician recruitment efforts, and to purchase equipment for those physicians.
