$86,000 donated to rec facilities
Rocanville Lucky Lottery
January 24, 2023, 4:03 pm
Kara Kinna
A total of $86,000 has been donated to recreation facilities in Rocanville after the town resurrected its Lucky Lottery in the summer and fall of 2022, to help raise money for a major pool upgrade, as well as for the other recreation facilities in Rocanville.
In the end, the Lucky Lottery brought in $69,949. A 25 per cent grant back from SLGA came to $17,063, bringing the grand total raised for rec facilities to $87,012.
The Lucky Lottery board will be keeping $1,000 for Lucky Lottery startup costs in 2023, with the remaining $86,000 being donated to the town’s rec facilities.
Of that $86,000, the pool received $60,308, the rec centre received $8,564, the skating rink received $8,564, and the golf course received $8,564.
Rocanville Rec Director Andrea Logan, who helped resurrect the lottery, says she was happy with how the lottery went.
“I was happy with that number. It was kind of an overwhelming experience,” she says. “It was a bit scary to get the lottery going again because there are a lot of bills associated with the lottery, and there was a point in time where I was worried we wouldn’t make anything. So to make that amount felt pretty good.
“It was definitely worth all the hard work. We’ve learned a lot from this first one, and I think we will do better this year.”
Even though the pool upgrade was one of the major factors in getting the lottery going again, Logan says it was important to make sure all of the town’s rec facilities received some of the lottery proceeds, and in future years, proceeds will continue to be divided up among the facilities based on need.
“For this year the idea to do the lucky lottery came about because of the pool, but we wanted to make sure we were including all of the facilities,” says Logan. “The pool is getting the largest portion this year, but that doesn’t mean that’s the way it’s going to stay for upcoming years. It will change based on what we feel is needed.”
How much work went into running the lottery?
“A lot,” says Logan. “We had a volunteer Lucky Lottery board that had nine board members. And then we had around 40 people helping with the phone blitz, and then we had all kinds of groups out helping to sell tickets—groups like the swim team and minor hockey and the seniors team and the golf club.
“So we had a lot of volunteers. It was a pile of work, but anything that is going to have a big reward is going to be a pile of work.
“Facilities cost money to run and they are all going to be requiring things. With the rec centre for example, we are converting that building from a curling rink to a rec centre, so that money is going to be put towards renovating it and making a better rec centre.
“The golf course could definitely use it. They purchased a new clubhouse and they are doing stuff out there all the time. The skating rink will be doing some renovations to the showers, and bathrooms in the dressing rooms, and then obviously for the pool upgrade it will be really helpful.”
Logan says aside from the proceeds, one of the other benefits of the lottery was watching how it pulled the community together.
“It was actually really fun to do it. Seeing the community working together for the greater good of the community, it made it fun,” she says. “It wasn’t just one group trying to raise funds, but people and groups working together to raise a big amount of money to benefit the entire community.”
She says plans have already started for the 2023 Lucky Lottery, and she hopes to see the lottery become an annual event, although that will depend on factors such as available volunteers.
“We are going to do it again this coming year. We will be applying for our lottery license again right away,” she says. “It will be decided year by year. We’ll see how many volunteers we have, because it takes a lot of manpower to do it, and see how it’s being received and go from there. I’d like to see it sticking around for a long time.
“We’ve had a couple of meetings already just to talk about things we want to do differently this year, and when we want to get started, and we have picked our dates.
“I think if people purchased a ticket last year, they will be thinking of purchasing again this year. I’m hoping it will be just that much better and every year it will grow.”
