‘A big relief’
Committee co-chair pleased McIvers Chase the Ace fundraiser is over
Never again does Sterling Lawrence want to hear the words “Chase the Ace.”
Sunday, after 50 weeks, the McIvers Come Home Year 2017 committee’s Chase the Ace lottery ended when Josh Nash of Flat Bay drew the Ace of Spades and took home $725,913.45.
Throughout the day, more than 5,000 people — coming from up and down the bay, Corner Brook, Rigolet, Gander, Rocky Harbour, Stephenville and elsewhere — descended on the community of about 500 residents.
At just after 3 p.m., 3,696 of them had already purchased tickets and the line still waiting snaked down from the town hall, past the fire hall, out to the beach and back up to the main road, extending up over the hill and back towards the church.
It took almost two hours after the 4 p.m. cutoff for ticket sales to clear those still waiting to be served. By draw time, the area around the town hall and fire hall was crammed tight with people, but the mood was light.
While the lottery brought in more than $2 million in gross sales and earned the committee more than $1 million, having it done and over with was “a big relief,” said Lawrence, the committee’s co-chair.
The team effort was a big one and the work involved grew each week just as the jackpot did. And every week there were changes to be made, moving up selling times, bringing on extra help, hiring security, having Brinks come to collect the money and figuring out the number of tickets needed for the next draw.
“It’s been a ton of work,” said Lawrence. “At the end of it, we were just going through the paces.”
The committee had hoped the lottery would give them just enough money to run the Come Home Year celebrations and cut down on what residents would have to pay.
They’ve more than exceeded that goal, but Lawrence said the town will still have only a small Come Home Year.
“We weren’t trying to gear up to have a Salmon Festival every Sunday,” he said.
The money that’s left after the celebrations will go into the town — the church, seniors’ group, fire department and recreation committee all have needs and wants.
Lawrence figures it will take some time to spend all the money, and for now the focus is not on that, but on planning the Come Home Year.
While he wouldn’t do such a fundraiser again, he does have advice for groups just starting out: be prepared to have lots of volunteers and even start canvassing your town or area now to have people help.