COVID be damned, it’s going to be a holiday season to remember for one lucky supporter of The Ottawa Hospital.
The hospital’s fundraising arm launched this morning its new 50/50 lottery, called Creating Tomorrow Community Lottery.
Half of the money raised will support patient care and research at The Ottawa Hospital while the other half will go to the individual with the winning ticket. The grand prize draw is being held Tuesday, Dec. 22.
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“This isn’t your mega dream home lottery; this is a 50/50 lottery,” The Ottawa Hospital’s president and CEO, Tim Kluke, said in an interview Thursday. “It’s as simple as that. The pot will be as big as the community of Ottawa makes it.”
Tickets must be purchased online at CreatingTomorrowLottery.ca. There’s a limit of four million tickets available to sell and prices are as follows:
- 5 tickets for $10
- 15 tickets for $20
- 100 for $50
Be warned: you snooze, you lose when it comes to potentially winning $1,000 in the early-bird draw. Anyone who buys tickets by noon on Nov. 13 will be entered into the early-bird draw to be held later that day. The winner will still have a chance to win the grand prize draw in December.
How much money is ultimately won really depends on how many tickets get scooped up and the price points at which they are bought, said Kluke.
“If people want to see that pot grow, we encourage them to go to the website and purchase tickets,” he said. “The best Christmas present ever would be to win the 50/50 lottery.”
Like all charities and organizations, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation has seen its share of COVID casualties when it comes to its running of events.
The Ottawa Hospital Gala – one of the largest and more prestigious galas in the city – would normally be happening any week now at The Westin Ottawa, with as many as 650 community and business leaders gathering together in one ballroom.
“We’ve had to cancel all our in-person events, providing us with an opportunity to do some things in a different way,” said Kluke.
The hospital foundation proceeded with its President’s Breakfast 2020 last month by switching to a virtual format, which has become the new pandemic norm. The community response was “exceptional,” said Kluke. The one-hour event raised $838,000, making it one of the hospital’s most successful fundraising breakfasts to date in its 19-year history.
The public has also helped to raise more than $2 million for the hospital’s COVID Emergency Response Fund to support COVID-19 research, innovation and patient care projects.
“The support from the community has been excellent,” said Kluke. “We’ve been very pleased and grateful.”
– caroline@obj.ca
