$100K gift

An 83-year-old great-grandfather says he never thought the birthday gift from his daughter would make him $100,000 wealthier.

Walter Gammond, a retired truck driver, celebrated his birthday on May 3 with his wife, Dorathy, three children, four grandchildren and six great- grandchildren. His birthday gift from his eldest daughter, Barbara, was a single ticket for the third annual Habitat for Humanity cash raffle.

He tucked the ticket away inside his wallet and didn’t give it much thought. That was until Barbara phoned her parents on Saturday to tell them that Gammond had won the $100,000 prize.

"It was a surprise to me," Gammond said. "For a second I said ‘gee it can’t be.’ But I guess the good old lord has given me a break. I guess I got to do some thinking."

Gammond will be the last winner of the cash raffle. Ticket sales struggled last month with only about 2,000 of the 12, 500 tickets sold by mid-April. Diane Mitchell, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay, put out a plea for help and at the last minute the event sold out.

Mitchell said they struggled to sell the tickets they had, and made a promise to residents that if they helped the organization this one time, they would end the annual raffle.

"People really came through for us," Mitchell said. "We made a commitment to the citizens of Thunder Bay that if they helped us this time we would not do this again. We are going to give up the raffle and we will find other ways to do that fundraising."

Mitchell said they managed to raise more than $100,000 to purchase land and build a home for a family in need. She said it was hard to give up the fundraiser, but they couldn’t ignore the message from people that $20 for a raffle ticket was too much.