Kinsmen lottery finale

The Fort City Kinsmen is donating more than $19,000 to five local charities at the conclusion of their latest lottery.

The Kinsmen held its final wrap up event of the 2009 Getting Out of the House lottery at the Sports Dome on Saturday. This was the first year for the lottery and the money raised will be going towards local charities such as Camp Quality, Camp Firefly, Friends of Olivia Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Easter Seals Ontario.

Jason Komoski, chairmen of the 2009 Getting Out of the House lottery, said late ticket sales caused some concerns that they would not be able to meet their target goal of $90,000 to $100,000 in time.

"We were really worried we wouldn’t break even," Komoski said. "On the day of the ticket sales we were more than $40,000 short of breaking even."

Komoski said they were able to sell 650 tickets and raised more than $65,000 on the last day of the lottery. He said they could have sold another 300 if they continued into the night.

The lottery began in September and ended in December.

"We realised there are a couple things we need to change (for next year). The biggest one being the date of the draw," he said.

If the draw happens next year Komoski would rather have the draw on New Year’s eve and be able to use the tickets as gifts for Christmas.

Rhonda Harrison, senior development officer for Easter Seals Ontario, said the money would go towards financial assistance to help kids become more independent such as placing ramps for wheelchair users and lifts for vehicles.

When Harrison heard the Kinsmen might not break even she said she was a bit concerned.

"Thunder Bay is an extremely last minute town," Harrison said. "Everybody is always concerned and everything comes through in the end."

Easter Seals helps more than 180 children in the area and relies on public donations. Harrison said a volunteer came up with the idea to do a raffle with the Kinsmen after they cancelled their house lottery.

The lottery gave away more than 100,000 worth of prizes. The top prize was a 2010 Kia Soul. Other prizes included a tent trailer, a skidoo and vacation packages. Komoski said the name of the lottery had a double meaning as the prizes were meant to get people out of the house and to show the Kinsmen’ had left housing lotteries.