Three Sarnia men have been named the grand prize winners of this year's Bluewater Health Foundation Dream Home Lottery.
The draw was held on Thursday, February 20 at the home and was live streamed over social media.
Samuel McLam, Robert McLean, and Edward McLean are left with the decision to either take the home on Shoreside Drive in Plympton-Wyoming worth over $1.5 million, or $1 million cash.
The four-bedroom home was built by Forbroad Custom Homes and designed by Jen Sottosanti Design.
Robert was at work when he received the exciting news.
He was in shock.
"Is this real? I don't know what to do," McLean said on the phone.
Bluewater Health Foundation Executive Director Kathy Alexander said it's exciting to have the large winners be local residents.
"All of the big winners so far this year are local winners, which is fabulous and it is a provincial lottery but it is still predominantly driven by people that live in Lambton County and I think that really speaks to the connection to Bluewater Health," she said.
The 50/50 winner was also announced on Thursday.
Danny Flynn of Sarnia was named the winner of $279,900.
Alexander said while tickets didn't sell out, the foundation was close.
"We sold close to 118,000 tickets this year. We're thrilled with that progress," she said, "We really have come a long way when we moved into this online platform and it probably was the saving grace of the lottery because the year COVID hit was the year we transitioned into an online platform."
Money raised from the lottery will go towards the redevelopment of Bluewater Health's cancer care clinic and the Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital's emergency room redevelopment in Petrolia.
"We're continuing to support that with [Bluewater Health's] share of the proceeds. We are now focusing on the internal furnishings and equipment of it," said Alexander. "The goal has actually expanded a little bit more than when we first started. We're at about 77 per cent of our goal which we've now redeveloped to be about $5 million."
The 30th Dream Home Lottery brought the largest prize board in its history with over 11,000 prizes valued at over $2.1 million.
This year Bluewater Health added the dream calendar initiative.
Winners of those prizes will be announced every weekday in March and April.
"Over 48,000 calendars were sold, which we're really excited about and thrilled to be able to launch that new lottery season," said Alexander.
Bluewater Health is already in the process of organizing the 31st Dream Home Lottery.
A full list of winners can be found on the Bluewater Health Foundation's website.