Cheryl Porter of Port Elgin was the big winner of the last draw in the 2nd Annual Saugeen Shores Healthcare Lottery and she collected her winnings on September 30th. This year’s lottery had four monthly prize draws and one final 50/50 jackpot draw in September. Porter’s name was drawn live on 98theBeach where it was announced that she won $11,890.
“I couldn’t believe it when I got the call saying I had won,” said Cheryl Porter. “I bought the ticket at the beginning in March and, honestly, had forgotten about it!”
When asked what she would spend the winnings on, Porter said that her husband Cam has had his eye on a special guitar and she is also going to help out their sons. “We may take a little trip in the future, when it’s allowed.”
While Porter was the big winner, she also turned around and made a donation to the Foundation. “Our hospital is so important and we have to give back.”
The Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation holds its annual lottery to help raise funds to purchase needed medical equipment for the hospital. This year’s funds will go toward the purchase of four new defibrillators for the crash carts at the hospital in Southampton. Total funds needed to purchase the four new defibrillators is just under $80,000. This equipment is crucial to help hospital staff since a defibrillator enables hospital staff to monitor heart rhythms, defibrillate (shock) someone out of a life-threatening arrhythmia or externally provide a temporary pacemaker to a patient in crisis. These same life-saving functions can be utilized along with monitoring vital signs when transporting a patient.
Executive Director of the Foundation, Tracy Murray says she was thrilled with the community support of the lottery. “Ticket sales were solid considering Covid precautions earlier this year meant that physical ticket sales were not possible at their retail outlets but strong phone orders helped pick up the slack in retail sales.”
“We want to say a special thank you to our partners this year, Mowbray’s Canadian Tire for sponsoring the lottery this year and also to 98theBeach and the local retailers who carried the tickets for the public to purchase, including Mowbray’s, Ralph’s, Tiny’s, Square Deal Neil’s, Kristen’s Pharmacy and Martin’s Home Hardware.
The Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation is hoping to announce details of the new lottery later this Fall. Moving forward the Foundation will be running an online 50/50 with quarterly draws throughout the year. Pending AGCO approval, the first round will run late October with the first lucky winner being announced shortly before Christmas.
