Hospital foundation draws winning ticket for truck raffle

By Lethbridge Herald on September 24, 2024.

Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation’s CEO Crystal Elliot spins the raffle drum along with Chad Scott, fleet manager at Murray Chevrolet while the Foundation’s chair of board of directors Amber Darroch waits to pull out the winning ticket for their annual truck raffle Monday morning at the hospital’s main atrium. Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – Lethbridge Herald

The Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation drew a winning ticket from their annual truck raffle Monday morning at the hospital’s main atrium. 

With just over a dozen people waiting in the atrium of the hospital to find out if they would be the lucky winner of this year’s truck, the foundation’s chair of the board of directors Amber Darroch grabbed the lucky ticket out of the raffle drum after it was spun a few times by foundation’s CEO Crystal Elliot. 

The event was also live-streamed with over 50 people waiting online to find out if they were the winner. Once the ticket was drawn, the winner was contacted by phone. 

“This is one of our highlights of the year because it’s such a thrill to put a face to a name of somebody who’s going to appreciate their winnings, but also sharing the joy of raising funds for the hospital and the south zone,” said Darroch. 

The truck raffle has been helping the CRH Foundation raise funds for various equipment, programs and other hospital needs since 2011 and Elliot said it is always awe inspiring to receive such great support from the community. 

“This is my first year with the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation and the incredible joy that it brings to be able to see the community support,” said Elliot. 

She said that when they launched the raffle on June 3, the first two weeks of ticket sales were absolutely unbelievable. 

“This year we sold 93 per cent of all tickets, which will raise approximately $100,000 towards equipment, special projects and programs for the Chinook Regional Hospital,” said Elliot.

She said they want to thank everyone for their patience, especially for those who received mailed-out tickets as the staff had to enter all the data and print each ticket individually. 

“We’re also incredibly grateful to our auto dealers across Lethbridge. We do RFP (request for proposal) tender process to enable who’s going to provide the truck that year,” said Elliot. 

She explained that the foundation purchases the truck out of the proceeds, in partnership with the dealership who often provide them with great deals. 

“This year we had Murray Chevy Cadillac give us a beautiful truck with beautiful add-ons and you can go off roading,” said Elliot.