A Chatham couple are the lucky winners of the 2022 Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Foundation’s 50/50 draw.
Mike Veres, an annual supporter of the fundraiser, purchased his 50/50 tickets on the morning of the draw, and he and his wife Wendy were both in disbelief when they discovered Monday, that they had hit the $126,840 jackpot.
“I buy these 50/50 tickets every year because I know that they are for a good cause," said Veres. "This year, I bought them online the morning of the draw. A few days later, I saw an email come in from the foundation with the winning ticket number, so I checked my tickets, and it turned out that we had the winner."
As proud parents and grandparents, the couple plan to share the winnings with their family. The couple also has plans to hang on to some of the money in order to travel and purchase a new vehicle in the near future.
This marks the fourth consecutive year in which the Igniting Healthcare 50/50 FUNdraiser has awarded a jackpot of over $100,000.
Since its inception in 2019, the fundraiser has raised a grand total of $1,160,300, with half of those funds paid out to the winners and the other half used to purchase life-saving equipment for Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
Proceeds from the fundraiser will support the purchase of two new pulmonary function test units for the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, one for each of the Chatham and Wallaceburg sites.
“I would like to congratulate Mike for winning this year’s life-changing jackpot and thank our amazing community for their incredible support of this fundraiser each and every year,” said CKHA Foundation President and CEO Mary Lou Crowley. "We heard from so many people throughout Chatham-Kent about the critical need for these PFT units at both our Chatham and Wallaceburg sites. Working together, the money that we raised will have a profound impact on local healthcare for years to come.”
A total of 7,031 tickets comprised of 806,500 numbers were sold over the course of the campaign with 75 per cent of the tickets being purchased online.