There were smiles all around Friday when a $100,000 cheque was presented to this year's Battlefords Union Hospital Foundation Lottery winner, Sandra Fafard of Battleford.
Fafard, who works in the laboratory at Battlefords Union Hospital, was ecstatic at her win. She and her grandmother purchased BUHF lottery tickets together for many years, and when her grandmother passed away, Fafard continued.
She is not one to buy other lottery tickets, so she is particularly pleased that her contributions are going toward her favourite cause. Fafard plans to give $10,000 to each of their two children, pay off her car and her husband's truck and the debt she incurred to become a lab technician three years ago.
"It fixes everything!" she said. "Life is great!"
Although he wasn't available for Friday's celebration, Nick Nikiforuk of Lloydminster was the winner of the 50/50 add-on worth $48,738.
BUH Foundation's $100,000 Cash Lottery is the foundation's biggest fundraiser. Garnering support from all over the province, 14,000 tickets were available and more than $175,000 in cash prizes has been awarded. Proceeds from the 2013 $100,000 Lottery will support the purchase of a new $550,000 digital fluoroscopy unit for BUH's medical imaging department.
Brenda Sparrow, chair of BUHF's board of directors. gave a nod to the many volunteers who help with the lottery.
"The lottery starts the last week in August and ends in November, three months of intense work and long hours," said Sparrow. "This lottery couldn't happen without our many volunteers who show up every day with a smile on their face, which always makes the day a little brighter and a little easier."
The foundation's board of directors and the staff in the office consider their volunteers the ambassadors of the foundation and the Battlefords.
Sparrow said, "As the quote says, 'Volunteers don't get paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless,' and we at the foundation say 'worth their weight in gold.'"
BUHF Executive Director Claudette McQuire had a special thanks for Tim Hortons, which provided gift cards for a volunteer draw, and also provides four coffee brewers for the hospital's palliative care units and all the necessary supplies on an ongoing basis.
"It's something our palliative care patients, their family and friends find comforting and convenient," she said.
