Group of educators Catch the Ace for over $15,000.00!

ANISHINABEK NATION TERRITORY— On October 6, 2021, the Anishinabek Nation 7th Generation Charity (AN7GC) began its newest fundraising initiative, Anishinabek Catch the Ace. All proceeds from this progressive weekly raffle, which was completely conducted online, went to the AN7GC and will be used to help support Anishinabek First Nations and citizens across Ontario.

The weekly draws took place every Wednesday evening at 7:00pm. Ticket sales were split into three portions: 20% went into the Weekly Jackpot, 30% went into the progressive Catch the Ace Jackpot, and 50% went to the AN7GC.

Each week, one lucky winning ticket holder won the Weekly Jackpot. In addition, they had an opportunity to win the progressive Catch the Ace Jackpot by having their numbered envelope, which was selected at check-out, opened to reveal a playing card. The coveted playing card that everyone was searching for was the Ace of Spades.

Since the first draw on October 13, 2021, weekly draws took place and the progressive Catch the Ace Jackpot continued to grow with each ticket purchased. On May 18, 2022, the 32nd week of the raffle, the winning ticket holder’s lucky envelope #26 was opened to reveal the Ace of Spades! Their combined weekly and progressive jackpot prize totaled almost $16,000.00!

The lucky winner happened to be a large group of lucky winners, as the winning ticket was held by a member of a group of 19 elementary school educators who had been pooling their money together and purchasing tickets since day one.

The name on the winning ticket was Angelique Guillemette of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario.

“When I heard about the initiative, I wanted to help support the Charity. I had the idea to invite my colleagues to participate and pool our money together, not only to help provide more support but to also give us more tickets for a better chance of winning,” said Guillemette. “It paid off in the end!”

When asked if there was any significance to the envelope they chose, Guillemette said, “Our school is number 26 in the school board, so we decided early on that that would be one of the numbers we chose.”

The group of 19 purchased $100 worth of tickets each week for the first 25 weeks. When they noticed the Catch the Ace Jackpot growing they upped the ante and began purchasing $160 worth of tickets each week.

A big congratulations goes out to the group of lucky winners!

Following the success of this initial raffle, the Anishinabek Nation 7th Generation Charity is planning on starting a new Anishinabek Catch the Ace raffle in the near future.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this initiative and very thankful to all of those who participated by purchasing tickets over the past seven months,” says Jason Restoule, AN7GC Manager. “Our goal is to begin a new Anishinabek Catch the Ace raffle with some minor adjustments to help make it even bigger and better than the first one. It was exciting to get this going and to see it continually grow over the course of the raffle. We are extremely appreciative of all the generous support the AN7GC received through this initiative.”

Results of all 32 weeks of draws can be found at www.AnishinabekAce.ca.

To learn more about the AN7GC or how to donate, please: www.an7gc.ca.