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Dream home Lacombe winner receives keys

The Mega Bucks 50 raffle reached its highest jackpot ever at $822,950
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Ross Drummond, along with his family accepts the keys to the Red Deer Hospital Lottery Dream Home from Bill Robinson of Sorento Homes and Manon Therriault, CEO of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Foundation. (Photo by BYRON HACKETT/Advocate Staff)

Central Alberta’s Ross Drummond still couldn’t believe his eyes when he stepped into his new home.

Drummond was named the grand prize winner of the Red Deer Hospital Lottery Dream Home valued at $880,619 earlier this month, but Friday was his first time actually stepping foot in the house that he won.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s life-changing,” said Drummond, a Lacombe resident, who was born and raised in Red Deer.

Drummond has been an ardent supporter of many local lotteries and said he’s seen the help the hospital lottery, in particular, can provide over the years.

“I’ve lived in Red Deer all my life, so supporting the local hospital goes hand in hand,” he said.

This year was one of the biggest in the Red Deer Hospital Foundation’s history, with the Mega Bucks 50 raffle reaching its highest jackpot ever at $822,950.

Red Deer Regional Health Foundation CEO Manon Therriault said that’s simply a credit to the community and the support they continually show for the hospital lottery.

“Last year was a bit of a surprise for us because with COVID, we didn’t know how it was going to go. It went exceptional,” she said.

“For us to surpass last year and yet another turbulent time, it’s incredible to see this happen and it speaks to the support that the community has for the hospital– it speaks to the sponsors and the supporters who put in the time and effort into this home, to be able to go back to the hospital and let them know their project is going to be funded, is an amazing feeling.”

This year, funding will be used to purchase electronic fetal monitors at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre and other health facilities in the zone. Therriault said they haven’t exactly ironed out how many monitors they will be able to purchase, but hospital staff is excited at the prospect of getting the new technology.

“It’s a project they want to jump on as fast as they possibly can. I’ve been working closely with the unit managers and the directors, so it’s something that we’ll be working on very quickly,” Therriault said.

Frank Nobel of Lacombe was the winner of Mega Bucks 50, collecting $411,475.00. Lorna Fernie of Rosedale Valley won the 2021 Cadillac CT5, valued at $64,298.00, and Lisa Purves, won the 2021 Denali, valued at $49,308.00.

“A few weeks ago we drew the names, but it’s definitely a great feeling to actually have them here in person and seeing what they won and seeing what they were able to contribute to as well,” Therriault added.