Christmas has come early for a former hospital worker in Chatham-Kent.
Carol Heuvelmans, a former nurse at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, won a jackpot worth $59,545 in the first Igniting Healthcare holiday 50/50 draw.
Four weeks of ticket sales brought in just over $119,000 for the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Foundation, with Heuvelmans taking home her half of the winnings on Thursday.
“I worked at the hospital for 18 years, so I’ve been supporting the Foundation’s 50/50s since the beginning, but I never actually thought I would win,” said Heuvelmans. “This is an amazing Christmas surprise, and I think I might spoil some of my loved ones a little more this year.”
Carol purchased her ticket - which included the lucky winning number CK-7813872 - online on November 29.
"Before I went for my walk, I saw the Facebook post about the ticket sales having closed," said Heuvelmans. "I went for a walk with my daughter and came home to a group of people standing on my porch."
In addition to sharing some of her winnings with loved ones over the holidays, she and her husband, Leo, also plan to use some of the money towards a trip to Portugal next year to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
The Igniting Healthcare 50/50 fundraiser has now raised a grand total of over $1.5 million since 2019.
Half of those funds have gone to the winners and the other half has been used to purchase equipment for the hospitals in Chatham and Wallaceburg.
Proceeds from this fundraiser will support the areas of greatest need at CKHA’s Chatham and Wallaceburg sites.
"I'm thrilled to win and it's certainly nice to always see the community support the foundation," said Heuvelmans.
