Some lucky people could take home $4.5 million worth of prizes from this year’s STARS Lottery. Tickets for the 26th annual event went on sale in Grande Prairie on January 17th. This is STARS’ single largest fundraiser of the year. Provincial Director of Central and Northern Alberta Jon Gogan says that without the help of the public none of this would be possible.
“At the end of the day, it’s because of the support of people across the Grande Prairie region that we are still in the skies… When you see that helicopter and you look up into the sky; if you have purchased anything from our organization and helped us out in any way you are part of every mission that we do.”
STARS air ambulance has been flying since 1985. It runs bases in the province out of Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary. Across those bases, Gogan estimates they do four to five missions a day which works out to 1,400 missions a year.
This year’s lottery prizes include three show homes in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge and a $963,395 early bird package featuring a townhome in Kelowna, memberships to a number of local clubs and $30,000 in cash. Other prizes include cars, cash, five vacation packages and a 50/50 pot of up to $2 million dollars. Gogan says all the money raised will go back to STARS.
“The proceeds from this lottery entirely go to our three programs located in Alberta; Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary. The net proceeds are in around $11 million dollars which will run an entire STARS base for a year.”
Due to a number of recent phone scams, Gogan wants to remind people that STARS will never ask for money in order to collect a prize. Tickets should also only be purchased at designated locations online, by phone at 1-888-880-0992 or in person at the Grande Prairie base on 123 Street.
For information on ticket pricing, visit STARS’ website. Early bird ticket sales close on February 28th and final draws and 50/50 ticket sales end on March 21st.