Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre announces car and cash winners

By Lethbridge Herald on February 24, 2026.

Herald Photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Executive director David Ng, winner Pattie Ambrus and director of funds development Julie Sarich, showcase the 2025 Subaru Crosstrek Touring edition raffled by Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre Monday afternoon.

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman

Lethbridge Herald 

Nord-Bridge Seniors Centre announced their car and cash winners Monday afternoon, after months of running a car raffle to raise funds to expand their Dunford Diner. 

Winner of the 2025 Subaru Crosstrek Touring Edition Pattie Ambrus, said she saw that Nord-Bridge was raffling a car, the car she always wanted, and decided to buy a ticket. 

“I was at the mall, and I was going to get a ticket and never did. And then I came here (Nord-Bridge) to renew my membership and I thought I better get a ticket now, so I did,” said Ambrus. 

The car was showcased at the Park Place mall from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12 and the draw took place on Feb. 13. 

“A couple days later I got a call and I thought it was a scam. When I was told I won the car, I thought it was a joke,” said Ambrus. 

She said that when she realized the call was indeed coming from Nord-Bridge, and that she has in fact won the car, she became extremely emotional and was in total shock.

Ambrus said she has only been a member at Nord-Bridge for a couple of years, but she has worked with seniors for 43 years, so winning a car from Nord-Bridge, from a raffle that collected funds that will benefit other seniors meant a lot to her. 

“I’ve gotten a lot of tickets for a lot of things and never won. But this time I thought I’m going to support Nord-Bridge and it was like my thinking was differently, the intention was different and maybe that was the key to winning,” said Ambrus. 

Director of funds development Julie Sarich shared that the raffle was in the works since July 2025, when they began to get all the permits and licencing to be able to have a raffle. 

“We wanted it to start the raffle at the beginning of October, but it ended up starting Oct. 25 when we had our first sale portion,” said Sarich. 

She said they approached the Davis Auto Group to get a car for the raffle, and they suggested to deal with Subaru directly as it was their new dealership. 

When it came to choosing a raffle day Sarich said they chose Friday Feb. 13, for a few reasons. 

“We chose Friday the 13th because it could be a Valentine’s Day, Rahu, if you won the car for Friday the 13th and also to diminish the bad luck aspect of Friday the 13th,” said Sarich. 

She said the tickets were $25 each or five for $100 and they were able to collect just under $60,000 overall. 

They had opportunities to showcase the car at the Park Place Mall, outside of Nord-Bridge Senior Centre and at a Lethbridge Hurricanes game in November just outside of the arena. 

“We were at the mall promoting not only the raffle, but also Nord-Bridge and what we do here, who we are and why we do it,” said Sarich. 

She said she spoke with people from all over the province at the mall and they purchased tickets, as the raffle was open to anyone who resides within the province, but at the end, both winners live right here in Lethbridge. 

The raffle had a secondary winner, Kathie Rollack who won $2,500 in cash and Sarich said it was thanks to her grandmother who bought her five tickets. 

Sarich explained that both winners’ names were chosen at random through a raffle box. 

“It was such a lovely, easy process. You push a button, and they are in control of the winner,” said Sarich.