Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

The Kindersley Community Service Group is hopeful ticket sales ramp up for its Chase the Ace draw with only five draws remaining before the draw ends.

Darlene May reacts after turning over the Ace of Hearts during the Chase the Ace draw on July 5 being held by the Kindersley Community Service Group. May had a chance to win $8,802 if she drew the Ace of Spades, so she was close. May won $266.

The most recent draw took place on July 5 at the Elks Hall. Darlene May, a volunteer that helps to sell Chase the Ace tickets, had her ticket drawn and she won $266. May then picked a card and she picked the Ace of Hearts, so she nearly picked the coveted Ace of Spades.

The draw on July 5 was the 21st draw and the final draw is scheduled to take place on Sept. 27. If the Ace of Spades is not picked in the four draws before the final draw, the elusive card will be picked by someone at the final draw.

Gary Hamilton, a member of the Kindersley Elks Lodge, is a representative of the community service group. The group consists of the Elks, Kindersley Legion, Kindersley Rotary Club and Kindersley Masonic Lodge. Proceeds from the Chase the Ace draw go toward the Kindersley Aquatics Centre project.

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A total of $5,873 has been won by the 21 draw winners and the draws are held every other Thursday. The draw winner gets 20 per cent of the ticket sales from the two-week period between draws while 30 per cent goes to the ace pot and 50 per cent goes to the pool project.

Approximately $14,675 has been raised for the pool so far. Hamilton said it would be nice if more tickets had been sold, but the draw has still raised good money for the project. There have been 5,872 tickets sold so far.

Hamilton said there are only five of 26 draws left and the group has only sold about 60 per cent of the 10,000 total tickets. He noted that the ace pot should grow to more than $10,000 by the final draw in September. If it gets to the final draw, he said organizers are planning to hold a supper at the hall.

He stressed that the ace pot has to be won at the final draw, so ticket holders will have to be at the Elks Hall while names are being drawn. The spokesperson said the group is looking to organize a supper for the final draw date.

According to Hamilton, it could be a while that night before someone is declared a winner. Only 26 cards will be missing from the deck after the first name is drawn on Sept. 27, so it could take 26 more draws to find a winner. Organizers are looking at options for the wind up.

“We had planned to sell all the tickets, and then at the end we would just draw and give away a little bit of a consolation prize,” he noted. “If we don’t sell all the tickets, we may just put on a big supper, and then we’ll sell tickets throughout the evening.”

Organizers are looking at options to keep people occupied and it could include musical entertainment or break open tickets, Hamilton said. More details will be available closer to the final draw date if the Ace of Spades has not been picked.

The Elks Hall is open from 6 to 8 p.m. each draw night on Thursdays, so people are encouraged to attend the hall for the draw. People could grab an adult beverage at the bar while they wait to see whose name gets drawn.

If the draw goes to the final date, the first name drawn gets the 20 per cent of the proceeds for the week. Hamilton said organizers are still discussing how they will handle the other names that get drawn as they work their way to finding a winner for the pot. Tickets are available at several locations in town.

Tickets are available from Hamilton, May, David Burke and members of the Big Dippers pool fundraising committee. People could also get tickets at the town office, Castle Home Building Centre, Sharper Image, Lela’s Music Centre, Hangers Dry Cleaners, Synergy Credit Union, Royal Bank of Canada, Integra Tire, Hill Acme, Humpty’s Restaurant, Kindersley Insurance and at the office of ISH Energy Ltd.

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