Grande Prairie’s four main Rotary Clubs will be combining their forces to try and create what they call a more seamless way to get the money raised from various lotteries to those who need it most.
The joint venture between the clubs means the Dream Home Lottery, Cars for Christmas, Cash and Camping, Ribfest and the Scarecrow Festival will all share proceeds starting in 2023.
Swan City Rotary Club President Tab Pollock says while they’ve been informally discussing things like this for nearly a decade, it really picked up steam following a tri-club joint venture between the After 5 Club, Sunrise Club, and Swan City club a few years ago.
“We invited the Rotary Club of Grande Prairie, the four of us got together to bang out the details as to how it can work, how we could benefit the community, and how it would be better for rotary as a whole,” he says.
“It’s allowing our 250 Rotarians in our four clubs to work together, raise funds for our community and our international projects,” he adds.
Pollock says for most, buying a ticket for one of the various lotteries, or events, many don’t know what club they’re supporting, they just know they’re supporting Rotary, which supports the community. He says by working together, they will hopefully be able to draw from a greater pool of resources, which will then help a greater number of non-profits and organizations in the region and beyond.
“We are expecting over a million[dollars], or $1.5 million a year, will go back out into the community from the Rotary Clubs of Grande Prairie.”
He adds the first two events on the calendar under the new agreement will be Ribfest and the Cars for Christmas lottery later in 2022.