Ticket trouble

Another year and another last minute push for Habitat for Humanity.

The charitable organization, which builds affordable housing for families in need in Thunder Bay and around the world, is coming up well short of its 12,000-ticket goal in its annual $100,000 cash lottery fundraiser, and this has the organization’s local CEO worried.

"We haven’t even broken even yet. If we can’t raise more money with our ticket sales, it’s going to limit the number of houses that we can build this year. We need to rebuild Thunder Bay. We have families on waiting lists waiting for Habitat for Humanity homes, and we need to get them into homes," said Habitat’s Diane Mitchell.

Tickets are $20 apiece and available by calling the organization’s head office.

"We know Thunder Bay is a last-minute place, and we want to just encourage people to please get those tickets that you may not have yet or you may want one more of," Mitchell said.

The grand prize will be drawn for at 3 p.m. on Family day, which this year falls on Feb. 15.

Revealing the raffle-prize winner will be the culmination of a day-long, activity-filled event at the Sports Dome, yet another fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity’s local chapter.

The second annual Family Fun Day is bigger and better than last year, Mitchell said.

"Last year I know we weren’t expecting as many people as we had, and we weren’t quite prepared for everybody to be here. But this year we have four bouncy castles instead of one, we have more face painting. We have a rock-climbing wall. We’ve got a disco dance area. We’ve got a huge Twister game to play. Paint ball’s going to be here. You name it, we have it here," Mitchell said.

Family Fun Day begins at 10:30 on Feb. 15, runs to 4:30 p.m. and costs $5 for a family of four.