By Canadian Press

Holy cash: Chase the Ace fundraiser nets $5.8M for Newfoundland parish

Oct 23, 2017 | 1:15 PM

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Three sets of crumbling concrete steps have just been fixed heading into the St. Kevin’s church, office and community hall in St. John’s, N.L.

Now the Catholic parish can figure out how to spend the rest of its $5.8-million windfall.

“We’re just waiting for railings,” said Carol O’Brien, organizer of a wildly successful Chase the Ace fundraiser that turned the rural Goulds area of the city into a sort of weekly carnival last summer.

“It was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said of the hoopla. “I miss it. I miss the people, I miss the feeling of togetherness and camaraderie and just the general excitement.”

The profits will be put to good use, O’Brien said Monday in an interview.

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“Our church steeple, we have a leak there that we just can’t seem to figure out.

“Our cemetery, we’re doing an expansion,” she added. “The majority of our funds are earmarked just to keep us operating in the black for the next number of years. That’s the biggest thing.”

Chase the Ace in the Goulds made national headlines and lasted more than 44 weeks with ever-increasing jackpots.

Starting before dawn on Aug. 30, about 60,000 ticket buyers formed massive lineups that snaked through the community. There were picnics and singalongs throughout the day before a couple from nearby Conception Bay South finally drew the winning ace of spades for $2.6 million.

O’Brien said the parish spent just over $152,000 in total on “professional fees,” including Brink’s trucks to safely move cash and extra police officers for security.

The $5.8 million figure is after all expenses, she explained. In addition to operating costs and building maintenance, the parish will use those profits to improve its food bank, which handed out about $300,000 worth of donations last year, O’Brien said.

The provincial economy has been battered since offshore oil prices crashed in 2014. If hard times and the lure of easy cash attracted some ticket buyers who couldn’t afford it, O’Brien said that can’t be helped.

“Nobody can control what an individual chooses to do with their money. It’s a concern always, but we have no control over that.”

O’Brien said all spending decisions will be made by committee, overseen by the parish council and made available to church members.

The church wasn’t the only Goulds institution enriched by the hoopla.

“It was a screaming success for the Goulds — no doubt,” said Martin Hefferman, co-owner of Greco’s Pizza and Frozu Frozen Yogurt, just behind the parish hall. “Our sales probably tripled on Chase the Ace days.

“There were lineups out the door.”

Like anything, there were pros and cons, Hefferman said in an interview.

“There’s some businesses that didn’t benefit,” and that were hampered by massive traffic snarls and lack of access, he added. “But overall, anyone who’s in the sales business did extremely well.”

O’Brien said about 200 volunteers helped deal with the growing crowds. It all helped her cope with the sudden loss of her husband, Vince, who died at 74 in August 2016 in his sleep, she said. They had been married 37 years and have three grown children.

“It was just such a lovely feeling of people expressing their compliments, their condolences, and a feeling of community spirit and family. It was fabulous.”

Similar draws have been held across Atlantic Canada in recent years with varying success — some wound up costing charities while others that went on for months saw entire towns inundated by huge crowds clamouring to win growing jackpots.

St. Kevin’s has no plans for another Chase the Ace any time soon.

Still, O’Brien laughed when asked if she has any advice for other charities.

“If anyone is thinking about doing it, I say: ‘Go for it.’”

Follow (at)suebailey on Twitter.

Sue Bailey, The Canadian Press