The CHEO Foundation has launched its new CHEO 50/50 lottery, giving you a chance to win a big prize while also supporting patient care at Ottawa’s children’s hospital. “This is one of our most important fundraisers of the year,” CHEO Foundation president and CEO Steve Read told CTV Morning Live. Tickets for the CHEO 50/50 are for sale online, with 10 tickets costing $25, 30 tickets available for $50 and 100 tickets available for $100. The final deadline to buy tickets is Wednesday, April 9. “Like a traditional 50/50, the winner is going to take home half of the jackpot, and we have a couple of little incentives to buy early with some Early Bird prizes as well,” Read said. The first Early Bird Prize deadline is Wednesday, March 5, with the prize a trip for two to Paris, France from Marlin Travel. The second early bird prize deadline is March 19, with the prize a Ford Bronco from Donnelly Ford Lincoln. Read says the 50/50 lottery will help support patient care and expansion of the children’s hospital. “CHEO’s got big plans, lots of plans to expand and grow,” Read said. “Grow its programs, grow its people and, of course, grow its campus to accommodate, really, what’s a growing population and try to tackle some of the access to care issues and wait times that are plaguing us while we’re too small.” CHEO is planning to build an Integrated Treatment Centre to bring more of its programs and services to the main CHEO campus. “We can’t wait to see it built; we’ll break ground shortly in the spring. We’ve got a parking garage that’s being built first because our new Integrated Treatment Centre’s going to be built on our campus,” Read said. “Because of our growth in service volumes, we’ve had a variety of leased spaces all across the city so this will help us consolidate all of this into one space and connect it to the hospital and make it a lot easier for families.” To buy tickets to the CHEO 50/50 lottery, visit www.cheo5050.ca.
