The new year couldn’t have started any better for a group of 25 current and former Fanshawe staff.
Organizer of the 25-person ticket buying group, Karen Kloibhofer, was at home sick when lottery officials notified her that she won the grand prize.
Jake Jeffrey/980 CFPL
“When I got the phone call this morning all I could think was, this can’t be real.”
“Once I got my hands to stop shaking long enough to send a mass email it was already hit the news and was on twitter so people were calling me.”
The group has an option between taking the $1.4 million dollar dream home or a $1 million cash prize. Kloibhofer said they had originally agreed to split the cash prize, but they will make sure all members are still on board with the agreement. Each member of the 25 would end up with around $40,000 should they choose the cash prize.
Kloibhofer was gracious in winning, talking more about where the money raised is going, rather than how she plans to spend it.
“Knowing that each one of the hospitals is going to get around $900,000 as a result of the lottery. This one ticket will have an impact on the 25 of us but the impact goes so much further than that.”
The bi-annual lottery supports St. Joseph’s Health Care London, London Health Sciences Centre and the Children’s Hospital. The Dream Lottery has raised $31.6 million for London hospitals since 1996.
Lottery officials also announced the winner of the 50/50 jackpot is Mark Stekar of Kilworth that will receive $480,345.
