Lynne Curran had a hard time believing she won Habitat for Humanity’s $100,000 Family Day raffle Monday.
“I couldn’t believe it because I never win anything,” said Curran, who arrived at the Sports Dome to claim her prize with her daughter Marisa.
Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay’s CEO Diane Mitchell called Curran to let her know she won the $100,000 cheque and had to take a couple of minutes to convince her it wasn’t a joke.
“I said ‘No way! You’re kidding … Did my husband put you up to this?’” said Curran. “She said ‘No, you really won.’ Unbelievable.”
The Thunder Bay woman said she plans to put the money towards her children’s education.
“I have one son in university already and another one going in a couple of years and my daughter is heading into high school this year so that seemed like a very good plan for it,” Curran said.
The winning ticket was drawn at 3:00 p.m. Monday during Habitat for Humanity’s Family Fun Day at the Sports Dome. More than 2,000 people attended the event and Mitchell said through the raffle alone they raised $40,000 with 9,200 tickets sold.
“Last year we raised $120,000 so we’re down significantly, which is going to affect the number of houses that we build,” she said. “But we’re going to look at all the numbers when today is done.”
The idea for the Family Fun Day began two years ago, said Mitchell..
“We decided as Habitat for Humanity is all about families and helping families in need, we decided we needed to claim Family Day … and provide a day for families at an inexpensive price for families to come out and have a great time,” she said.
Mitchell added their Family Fun Day will definitely be back next Family Day and it will be bigger and better.
