The Foundation of Guelph General Hospital was among the dozens of winners in a provincewide lottery.
Nearly two dozen hospital foundations in Ontario participated in the Split the Pot Lottery.
According to a news release on Tuesday, the 50/50 draw brought in over $1.2 million in ticket sales.
Elizabeth Stewart, senior manager of community engagement and communications at Guelph General Hospital, said they were very happy to be one of the winners.
“We had a lot of players in the Guelph region that were playing,” Stewart said.
“I think we all had our fingers crossed pretty tightly in our office on the day of the draw, really rooting for someone in Guelph to be one of the winners.”
Stewart added that Guelph has a very generous community.
The lottery is the first of its kind in the province, one that Stewart said the hospital was very proud to be a part of.
Half of the proceeds will be distributed among the 22 participating hospitals and the remainder of the funds will be shared between 13 individual winners, one of whom was from the Royal City.
The Guelph resident will be taking home more than $12,000.
Although it is not known how much the foundation will take home from the draw, Stewart said the funds will go towards patient care equipment, specifically in the laboratory.
“People think of diagnostic equipment (and) imaging to diagnose illness before treatment can be decided, but our hospital’s lab is also a very big part in providing information that helps diagnose illness and injury,” she said.
Stewart added they’re currently in discussion to participate in the lottery again, aiming to duplicate the same results or increase the amount from the inaugural draw.
The foundation is also currently running its own 50/50 program and tickets go on sale on Dec. 15.
“Ticket sales will continue until the end of January,” Stewart said.
“The grand prize draw will be at the end of January, but there will be a number of early bird prize draws leading up to that grand prize draw.”
To learn more or to purchase a ticket you can go to the foundation’s website.