By Liam Verster

Final Days

Swan City Rotary Club says final surge in Cars for Christmas lottery will support non-profits

Dec 29, 2020 | 2:44 PM

The Cars for Christmas lottery officially closes on Wednesday, December 30 at 11 p.m., and the Lottery Chair says he hopes to see a final surge of sales that will also directly support local non-profits.

The Swan City Rotary Club has partnered with 13 local non-profits and charities, and nine food banks this year, who will benefit from ticket sales.

“This year we knew it was going to be very, very challenging for the non-profits and charities because they were unable to have fundraising events, and quite likely they’re donations would be down, and it was correct to assume that,” says Dave Cook, Lottery Chair for the Swan City Rotary Club.

“So, we decided as the Swan City Rotary Club to double the number of partners that we took in for Cars for Christmas as opposed to previous years.”

Those partners range from organizations that deal with youth, those that specialize in mental illness and mental health, and those involved in food support. Cook adds that thanks to those groups and their work in spreading the word of the lottery and their involvement, the Swan City Rotary Club has seen an increase in purchases.

The club has already gifted funds to the local food banks involved in the lottery this year. Cook says $60,000 was distributed between the nine local food banks early in December so they could use the funds to run their Christmas Hamper programs.

He says once the sales have wrapped up and all the money has been calculated, the Club will donate money raised through the sales to those partners. Those donations will be based off a percentage of how many tickets were sold, and Cook says it will likely lead to donations of between $5,000 and $20,000 to each group.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 75 per cent of the lottery tickets were sold, but Cook says last minute surges are standard practice in Grande Prairie. He hopes to see them pass the 80 per cent mark by the end of the campaign.

Cook adds that the bonus draw, which is a 50/50 that will also benefit the partnered organizations, has reached $256,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

Tickets can be purchased through the Cars for Christmas website, over the phone at 780-532-0506, or in person at the kiosk in the Prairie Mall. Mail in orders, as long as they’re mailed out before the cutoff on Wednesday night, will be accepted until January 3, 2021.

The winning tickets will be drawn on January 12, and at that time the Swan City Rotary will also distribute their donations to the partnered organizations.