THUNDER BAY – On Monday, a couple was presented with the key to their brand-new home. Fort William Rotary was pleased to announce Jason Matyczuk as the winner of the 38th Fort William Rotary House Lottery.
“It feels surreal. When I finally answered that phone, I'm like, are you kidding?
“We always joke, we're going to win the house, we're going to win the house,” Jason said.
Jason’s wife Jessica, said they have been “throwing a lot of ‘we’re going to win this year’ out there.”
“This is amazing, this is life changing,” he said.
Jason said along with his wife, he bought tickets with his mother and mother-in-law and in a separate group with five or six of his co-workers.
The winning number was apart of the group of co-workers.
“My phone's been ringing, so I guess some of them might know. I got a few phone calls to make afterwards. Then we'll see where everything goes,” Jason said.
Jason and Jessica thanked Fort William Rotary members for the great work they continue to do.
“This is a great organization and money goes to great charities. We're proud to buy tickets every year.
Keep buying charitable tickets for every organization. We'll be buying tickets next year as well. Our moms might need a house,” Jason said.
Glenn Craig, president of Fort William Rotary, said they have changed a lot of lives for people in Thunder Bay.
“But also, we’ve done a lot of work for charities and it's a great way to celebrate Canada Day.”
Craig said the majority of tickets were sold online however they were available in person at Intercity Shopping Center.
“We could sell tickets up to last night at midnight. We had a bit of a rush of people trying to get the last ones in. We're going to have a really big number for charities this year.”
They have to wait for all of the last bills to come in, but Craig said they are around the $700,000 mark.
“That’s an incredible amount of money to be going back into Thunder Bay and North Western Ontario charities, you see a lot of impact with that.”
Craig said it is to be determined on what charities will receive the money.
“The allocations committee will be meeting in July. There are lots of organizations - last year there was over a dozen different charities.”
Cindy Levanto, chair of the House Lottery, said that there is an application process for charities to get on their lottery list.
“The work has to go on to the charity side to actually put together a list of what they would use the funds for and our allocations committee meets and discusses that.
“For the most part there's usually 13 or 14 charities that get some kind of money, whether it's $5,000 or up to $100,000,” she said.
In past years, the draw was held at Marina Park, however after the pandemic they had to adapt, Levanto said.
“This is kind of an interesting moment to celebrate the winner today. It's a different way to do it and we're really happy to have them here today,” she said.
The number of tickets sold was approximately 19,500. There were 20,000 tickets available. Levanto said it was 97.5 per cent sold out.
For more information on Fort William Rotary or the House Lottery, visit their website.
