With three weeks left until the final draw, there is still a chance to buy a ticket for the Prince George Hospice Dream Home Lottery.
In fact, there are nearly 3,000 of them - that's about how many tickets remain available for purchase from the 8,999 originally up for sale, Prince George Hospice Society executive director Donalda Carson said Tuesday.
The grand prize is a 1,936 square-foot home in the Creekside Properties subdivision at the end of Malaspina Avenue in College Heights.
Located at 7693 Stillwater Cres., it's custom built by Rise Construction, with two appliances, a moving package from Moving Sucks, a dish set from DandyLines, Telus Optik TV and a security system from Curtis Elite with six months of monitoring.
The package is valued at $450,000, which makes for a big payoff.
"You get a chance to earn a lot of money because you either get a home for free or you sell it," Carson said.
Of course, only one ticket holder can win but the proceeds go to a great cause in Carson's opinion - supporting three beds at the hospice house, which is used primarily for end-of-life care and pain management during that time.
"It's an important time in people's lives to have an asset such as us there to contribute to their well-being and make the experience life-enhancing," Carson said.
Tickets can be purchased at the dream home, which is open for viewing daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. as well as at Canadian Tire, Northern Hardware, Hart Drugs Pharmacy and the Prince George Hospice Society office, 1506 Ferry Ave. They can also be ordered through the ticket hotline 1-866-419-7604.
The grand prize draw is on Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. The sales cutoff is 5 p.m. the same day.
Prince George is known for its last-minute rush on ticket purchases and the woman who won the first dream home lottery the hospice society hosted bought her ticket just an hour before the cutoff.
But Carson said sooner is better than too late.
"I don't know how many people out there are saying they want to buy the last ticket," Carson said. "Well, if they do that they might not get a ticket because if they're all lined up waiting, we have to quit selling at the magic hour."
There is also the Hospice 50/50 Lottery. Tickets are $20 each and total number to be sold is 10,000 for a total possible prize of up to $100,000. The draw for that prize is on Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. with the sales cutoff at 5 p.m.
Collen Rushton was the last of the early bird winners when her name was drawn Oct. 10 for a 2014 Toyota Yaris 3 door hatchback from Northern Toyota, worth $17,696.
For more information visit www.hospicedreamhome.ca.
