“Are you kidding me?”
That was the reaction from Jim Kole via phone after finding out he was the grand-prize winner of the 2019 Prince George Hospice Dream Home lottery.
Donna Flood, Executive Director of the P.G. Hospice Society, called the Prince George resident after his name was picked out of the big spinning barrel and to everyone’s delight, Kole answered.
“Oh my god, [...] You’re not kidding me right now, are you?” said Kole once again after Flood reassured and explained to him that he had won the big prize. “I can’t believe that.”
Jim Kole of Prince George is the 2019 winner of the @PGDreamHome, valued at $640,000 in the Nechako View Subdivision š | #CityOfPG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/rwgifFQIsr
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) October 26, 2019
Kole’s winning ticket number was 3461.
The 3,800 sq. ft. custom-built rancher style house, located at 4034 Brink Drive, is worth $640,000 and complete with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, five appliances, a double-door garage and a security system.
“It’s the best day ever!” said Flood to PrinceGeorgeMatters on hearing Kole’s voice when she made the life-changing phone call. “To be able to, once a year, give away a house is one of the best parts of my job, so it’s pretty cool.”
Flood is also grateful for the community’s continued support in participating with the Dream Home lottery and this year saw the most ever tickets up for sale in the contest’s history and was part of the largest ticket sales, in which all 10,999 tickets were sold out.
“We had more breathing room, we had more tickets more than we’ve had before, so as far as the success for the Hospice, it was huge,” she said. “This really does provide us that revenue to do the work that we do because we are only partially funded and we’re not, you know, a health authority. We have to rely on our community.”
The popularity of the Hospice Dream House was so massive this year and Flood is thankful for everyone’s involvement.
“I had an incredible group of me that ran this lottery for me. Our team at the Hospice Society was incredible. [Everyone] came out better than I’ve ever seen before; it’s a beautiful, beautiful construction of this house and all the upgrades and everything. We were so blessed, and once again, the community came out in full force to support the work we do. It was overwhelming to see the number of people that wanted us to sell out.”
If you missed out on the 2019 prize, you’ll have to wait another year for the 2020 draw.
(Name drawn at 9:00 mark of the video)
