Can’t win if you don’t play

Sports Council looking to grow Win4All lottery

Just about every week Toni Geary gets to surprise someone. After the Western Region Sport and Recreation Council (WRSRC) conducts its weekly Win4All lottery, Geary, the council’s executive director, gets on the phone to contact the prize winner.

“They’re always very, very happy and excited and surprised,” she said. Some even admit they didn’t think they’d ever win. Some have been playing the weekly 50-50 lottery since it commenced four years ago.

Draws are made every Monday. Then Geary gets to call the person whose number was drawn and advise whether there is a payout that week or not. To be declared a prize winner, the individual whose number is drawn would have had to stick their player number to a toonie and place it in a lottery box at one of the participating vendors. When there is a non-winner, that week’s prize gets added to the subsequent lottery and the jackpot builds until there is a winner.

Geary admits she likes surprising the winners. Over the first four years of the lottery, more than $181,000 has been distributed in winnings.

Eight local charities also regularly benefit, and donations are made to other organizations, such as youth ball, soccer and basketball programs, school breakfast programs and seniors programs, upon request.

A share also goes to the WRSRC to assist with general operations. That’s very beneficial, said Geary, who noted many programs can be offered free, or at minimal cost to participants, because of the lottery.

“Absolutely everything we do, the money supports,” she said.

Activities range from Kids Active-Start for children three years of age, to seniors’ fitness classes.

Geary and her assistant, Emily Arsenault, provide programs from Tignish to Miscouche, and a typical day would have them offering three different activities in three communities and for participants of all ages.

The more money the Win4All brings in, the more programs it can provide. That’s why Geary and Arsenault are looking to attract more players to make the weekly shares bigger.

The WRSRC currently has 11 participating vendors from St. Eleanors to Tignish and has set a goal of attracting three more vendors east of O’Leary and one to three more west of O’Leary.

Sports Council activities also include pickleball, Try Hockey, snowshoeing, biathlon, archery, healthy lving, DancePlay, badminton, geocashing, Learn to Run, Confederation Trail biking, golf, kayaking, Kids of Steel Triathlon, and summer camps.