St. Joseph's Foundation of Elliot Lake will start a new project March 1 designed to generate a revenue stream for the foundation's fundraising efforts at Elliot Lake St. Joseph's General Hospital and its associated entities.
In making the announcement, foundation chair William Elliott wrote, "This is the latest fundraising initiative of the St. Joseph’s Foundation of Elliot Lake. The online 50/50 raffle is in response to the demand from people in the community and throughout Ontario who want to support the foundation, and who have seen the success of other hospital’s 50/50 draws.
"The advantage of the online platform is that tickets can be purchased from anywhere in the province, allowing friends and family and ex-Elliot Lakers to support our local hospital no matter where they currently reside. The Foundation is committed to having a monthly draw for the next 12 months. Tickets for each draw will go on sale the first day of each month, and the winner will be announced on the last day of each month.
"The website will include a ‘count down clock’ to the draw date and also a real time prize total, so people are encouraged to visit the site often to see how the pot is growing," Elliott explained.
The St. Joseph’s Foundation of Elliot Lake is a registered charity committed to improving patient care and patient comfort at St. Joseph’s General Hospital, St. Joseph’s Manor and the Oaks Treatment Centre.
“With the rise in popularity of on-line 50/50 draws at other hospitals we have been inundated with people asking why Elliot Lake isn’t doing the same. The Foundation has been working on this since the fall," Elliott said.
"It is a very intense process to get set up and licensed, but now that we are ready to go we are hopeful that the excitement in the community will translate into sales. This is a great opportunity to not only support your local hospital, but also to win some serious cash as well."
The actual ticket purchase website won’t be live until the March 1. Officials are in the process of finalizing a Facebook page which will have a 'hot link' to the draw page and there will be something similar on the foundation’s website.
The plan is to start a count down the week of Feb. 22 leading up to the March 1 opening. Tickets will be sold up to the second last day of the month. The draw will be on the last day of the month. Then the new draw will start on the first of the next month.