A chase the ace fundraiser in southeastern Manitoba just awarded its largest jackpot in its history and its popularity is booming. “You could see she was excited, she went straight to the cards, put her ticket on the card, and ended up being the ace of spades,” said Jocelyn Gauthier, co-founder of La Broquerie Helping Hands. “She ended up taking home $348,445.” Rachelle Blue was the lucky winner earlier this week according to the organization’s social media page. La Broquerie Helping Hands is an organization that runs a food bank in the Manitoba community located approximately 60 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg. It’s been running a chase the ace fundraiser since early last year. Gauthier said tickets for the fundraiser are continuing to be a hot commodity. “We noticed probably in March that it’s surrounding communities as well,” Gauthier said on Saturday. “We sell out 50,000 tickets every event, so we know it’s not just from our community, but it’s everywhere, anywhere in Manitoba. We even had some people come out from Ontario.” A chase the ace fundraiser, popular across small Manitoba towns, sees participants purchase lottery tickets. The winning ticket gets an opportunity to pull a card from a traditional playing deck. If the player pulls the ace of spades, they win the jackpot. Cards are removed from play until the ace is picked, and the jackpot continues to grow. “It actually looked like she was going to pass out at one point,” Gauthier said after watching Blue win the grand prize. “We were a little bit worried, but she was just overwhelmed with emotion. She was shaking. She was excited. She said it didn’t feel real.” Gauthier said the style of fundraiser is growing in popularity across the province. For her community, they sell each ticket for one dollar. She said anyone can play and it’s an event to get people together. They have regular lineups outside the La Broquerie hotel on chase the ace nights. “When we first started, we were doing it hopefully to raise a couple hundred bucks every week just to pay for our milk or our bread,” she said. Currently, La Broquerie Helping Hands helps more than 95 families in the community with food hampers, up from just over 30 when they first started. Gauthier said their food bank is a critical resource for many living in rural areas. “Some people need it for long term, but many only need it for a short term, just to kind of get through a certain time in their life,” Gauthier said. “They might have had a layoff, or there’s been an illness. Right now, with the cost of food, it is hard for families. We’ve got seniors. We’ve got all sorts of people coming through and using the food bank.” Gauthier said a new chase the ace series is coming, starting with a $25,000 take home prize. More details on the next draw will be available soon.
