Organizers are hoping more people are willing to take a chance to win $100 in groceries every week for a year and buy a raffle tickets in support of local Crime Stoppers prior to the draw next Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29).
“Things are going somewhat well. We’ve sold about half of [the tickets] already,” noted Safeway employee Vilma Valenzuela, who heads up fundraising for the local store.
But judging from previous years’ ticket sales for similar raffles, she added, many are sold in the last 24 hours before the draw.
The tickets, which cost $5 each, give people a chance to win either the grand prize ($5,200 in groceries), a second-place prize of $500 in Safeway gift certificates, or the third-place prize of $100 in gift certificates.
A total of 3,000 tickets have been printed, which are available at Safeway, Taggs, the Times, Northern Lights Credit Union, and from Crime Stoppers board members.
The draw will be made next Saturday at 4 p.m., with proceeds going towards the purchase of playground equipment for local parks.
As previously reported, the local Crime Stoppers board had expressed concern when the town, in an effort to become compliant with the Canadian Standards Association’s “Children’s Playspaces and Equipment Standard,” removed all equipment from the Phair Avenue park back in July.
The Front Street, Lillie Avenue, and Pither’s Point parks also had some playground equipment removed over the summer.
Since first adopting charities in 1998, local Safeway employees have helped raise money for the Riverside Foundation for Health Care, Friends of the Library, Fort Frances Friends of Animals, the “Community Chest,” and the Kiwanis skate park.
A “top-up day” held at Safeway in late November raised about $1,800 for Crime Stoppers.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
