House winners

Bernadette Danco and her husband Daniel had one more thing to celebrate on Canada Day.

The couple from Atikokan learned Sunday that they had won the Fort William Rotary Club house lottery. Having entered for years but it’s the first time the family has won the lottery, which Danco said came as a big surprise.

“I had forgotten the draw was on July 1,” Danco said in a phone interview with Tbnewswatch.com.

“It was quiet the surprise. It was quite the Canada Day celebration. It’s unbelievable. Even this morning, I was in the garden thinking ‘Wow. Is this really happening?’ It’s exciting. We never thought we’d win.”

Having won the property on Fireweed Bay,  about a block away from Woodcrest Public School, Danco wasn’t sure what they would do with their new home.

Danco said they have three daughters, two of whom live in Thunder Bay already, but wasn’t sure if they would be staying in the city. For now they will have to come up with a plan on what to do with the house, she said.

Fort William Rotary Club spokeswoman Gordie Garriock said she was happy to see that the communities in region were supporting the house lottery. Most of the money raised by the lottery will go toward a number of organizations and charities.

Garriock said once they cover expenses they planned to give $50,000 to the city’s disaster relief fund, $25,000 to the George Jeffrey Children’s Centre playground and other groups such as the air cadets.

She said they set a new record this year by selling the more than 7,700 tickets.

“All the proceeds are well used,” Garriock said. “We’re a very small rotary club and we couldn’t do this ourselves. It takes a partnership with everyone to make this happen. This is the most exciting house lottery ever.”