THUNDER BAY — The final Thunder Bay 50/50 draw of the year promises a life changing jackpot — a whopping $2 million guarantee.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation made the announcement on Thursday at the Intercity Shopping Centre, where it will again run a pop-up location during the holiday season until the winner is called on Dec. 29.
"We need to go big," foundation president Glenn Craig said.
"The last few months, we've crossed the million dollar mark. We did the million-dollar guarantee [last year]. So, a $2-million guarantee plus $100,000 in early bird and holiday bonus prizes."
Having the pop-up store back at the mall was an experiment last year that paid off, Craig added.
"We have long been a partner with Intercity. We wanted to come back to the community. We wanted to make it accessible, and not everybody's comfortable with e-commerce. Like I said, we were extremely successful," Craig said.
Hospital chief of staff Dr. Bradley Jacobson said the 50/50 funds have changed the hospital for the better.
"I can't tell you how much it means to the front line staff, everybody involved in patient care from porters to the clerks to the clinicians, nurses," Jacobson said.
"It's really instilled a lot of faith in us and what we have to do every day to provide excellent care, every day, for every patient that we see," Jacobson continued. "It's been a remarkable, not only retention tool for our staff but a recruitment tool as well."
With the 50/50 helping fund many new pieces of equipment and technology, it's putting the hospital on the map in the medical community.
"We're becoming a real forerunner in patient care, cutting edge technologies as well," said the chief of staff.
"I sit at some provincial tables, and we do compare notes about what we've been able to do with our clinical teams with the services that we provide. Again, if you look through a lot of the medical journals and at conferences, we have a lot of representation at those sites, and a lot of it has to do with the technology we've been able to harness with the monies that the community has helped to raise for us."
November's draw didn't feature any bonus numbers; December makes up for that tenfold. Craig noted that this year's Christmas 50/50 will have a special holiday ticket package that includes 200 bonus numbers on top of the 500 numbers already included in the highest ticket tier available. Giving purchasers a total of 700 numbers being entered into the draw.
Ticket holders can expect bonus draws throughout the month with a total value of $100,000, plus two extra draws for $25,000 each on Dec. 27.
Those looking for a chance at becoming a multi-millionaire can purchase tickets starting Friday and have until Dec. 28.
