Envision Counselling and Support Centre is having a 50/50 raffle fundraiser. Tickets will go on sale on Jan. 28 and will be available until Feb. 9, unless they are sold out earlier.
Envision resource development co-ordinator Tania Hlohovsky Andrist gave details about the raffle.
“It’s one big 50/50 raffle, the more tickets we sell the bigger the prize. We are going to sell a maximum of $90,000 dollars in tickets. So there is an opportunity for $45,000 to be won by one ticket owner. There will be one grand prize,” Hlohovsky Andrist said.
The other half of the money will go directly into Envision’s counselling programming. Envision executive director Christa Daku explained when and how they plan to use the money raised.
“All proceeds will be going directly to … our next fiscal year. We are deferring the revenue to April 1, 2019 because we were the grateful recipient for the Savour the Southeast fundraiser in May 2018, this assisted with meeting the needs for our current fiscal year,” Daku said.
Envision is 80 per cent a government-funded organization. The money provided and donated annually allows them to maintain the programs they have and meet the needs of the community they serve. But to expand and to explore new programming possibilities they resort to fundraisers.
“Now, as the organization, we’ve grown, and our profile has grown,” Hlohovsky Andrist said. “Now we are much more public and we help a greater variety of people, a greater diversity, whether it’s men’s counselling, or marriage counselling, or family counselling. There are many more people that can access our services now. And we are just trying to expand and provide what is needed in the community.”
The 50/50 draw will be held on Feb. 11 at 10 a.m.
With the raffle being a big fundraiser for the Envision that will allow them to maintain and improve counselling and intake programs, the upcoming silver anniversary in May will be their big celebration of last 25 years in the community.
Through this time the Envision has been encouraging and supporting healthy choices in individuals, families and communities within southeast Saskatchewan by delivering innovative programming and diverse counselling and support services. For many years not only were they helping victims, but also were building a healthier community and battling abuse and violence by means of preventive programs.
To celebrate their growth and success, Envision found a speaker, who resonates with their mission and who also is very relevant for the southeast community. NHL alumni Theoren Fleury is invited to speak during an event. Fleury, who was born in Oxbow, is now also a Victor Walk supporter who helps trauma survivors. Estevanites may remember him from 2017 when he brought the Victor Walk to Saskatchewan.
“We thought he had so much charisma, personality and celebrity power that to bring him to speak to our staff, and to speak to the professionals at the workshop would be a real gift, a gift to the community and a gift to recognize the Envision,” Hlohovsky Andrist said.
Fleury will facilitate a professional workshop on May 15 in Weyburn. He also will give an address to the general public during an anniversary luncheon May 16 in Estevan. The registration for the workshop begins on March 1, and luncheon tickets go on sale April 1. Ticket prices are not set yet, but the Envision wants to do its best to make sure that everybody in the community could come to celebrate the silver anniversary with them.
