Picture this: You’re about to tuck into your Christmas Day dinner when an email pops up on your smart phone, saying you’ve won a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Or a Honda Civic.
Or $17,000.
That’ll be the pick for one lucky person entered into the 4th annual Coquitlam Firefighters Charitable Society raffle.
A total of 3,000 tickets are being sold through the society’s website — with Dec. 25 as the draw date — and, as of today (Friday), about third had gone.
“If you’re a gambler, the odds of winning are pretty good,” society president Trevor Demoskoff told The Tri-City News at the Burke Mountain firehall.
The “awesome, eye-catching prize,” as Demoskoff describes the motorcycle, was on display this fall at the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver and is now back at the dealership waiting for the raffle winner to claim it.
Proceeds from the sale of the $20 tickets will go back to the charity, which typically brings in about $50,000 a year to distribute to a variety of causes.
They include: the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund (started by a late Coquitlam fire captain in 1977) via Bright Lights at Stanley Park; the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation through its Pink Pancake Breakfast; Muscular Dystrophy Canada, from donations to the boot campaign; a breakfast and snack program for SD43 elementary schools; and, most recently, mental health workshops for firefighters with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The 160 members in IAFF Local 1782 also fundraise for the charity by hosting an annual Masquerade Ball that, in October, brought in $39,000.
Demoskoff said tickets for this year’s raffle — which also includes a second prize of a Westjet flight for two, and cash prizes — are only available online.
• The deadline to purchase is Monday, Dec. 24, with the winner notified at 4 p.m. on Christmas Day. Visit coquitlamfirefighterscharity.com.
