Over $797,000 won in the Renfrew hospital's final Catch the Ace draw

RENFREW, ONT. -

Gertrude Morrow won $797,247 Thursday night in the Renfrew Victoria Hospital's Catch the Ace lottery, which ran all the way to its final week.

"I never would have ever expected to have still been going in week 51," says Patti Dillabough, Executive Director of the Renfrew Victoria Hospital's Foundation.

"It's just been amazing. The community is so excited about it because we still do the cash draws and involve our vendors and merchants that are selling the tickets, it's just great. It's all people are talking about downtown."

The ace of spades remained hidden until week 51 of the draw, leaving just two cards remaining.

Morrow's card was the second card pulled in Thursday's draw, claiming card number 38 and winning the jackpot of $797,247. Muskrat Shaheen was the first card pulled - number 41, claiming the six of clubs and winning the weekly prize of $72,336.

Before the draw on Thursday, hopefully winners were flooding into Dahl's Convenience in Renfrew to get their name on a ticket.

"Most of the time it's lined up all the way through out to the door, and then we get maybe five minutes of quiet time, and then we go again," says Louise Dahl, one of the store's owners, who has sold thousands of Catch the Ace tickets every week for the past 51 weeks.

Proceeds from the Catch the Ace lottery support the Renfrew Victoria Hospital's emergency department. Dillabough says upgrades and renovations started this week, at a cost of about $1.9-million. At least $1.2-million of that cost will be covered by ticket sales from the lottery draw.

"We didn't have a specific negative pressure room and we will now with this renovation," says Dillabough. "Which is really key, not just for COVID but for immune depressant patients that come through."

Shannon Fraser says she's been entering into the draw since week one.

"I split my tickets between the two numbers because my favourite has been gone for a few weeks now," says Fraser, adding she would've gone on vacation, as well as paid off her home and some bills if she won the money.

"It feels great," says Fraser, of buying a ticket for the last 51 weeks. "It's such an amazing hospital with great staff, so anything I can do, as little as buying a ticket every week."

Dillabough says the next Catch the Ace Draw by the hospital will start in April 2022, with proceeds going to buy a new mammogram machine.