By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

SOS Outaouais’ Queen of Hearts lottery, which launched just two months ago, has already raised an impressive $588,090 for healthcare in the region. 

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that he was blown away with the campaign’s early success in the past two months. 

“It’s quite amazing what we have going,” said Pigeon, explaining that the draw is similar to the Chase the Ace contest that went viral across the Hills last summer and allowed several organizations to benefit greatly. This included the Low arena, which got $500,000 in cash from the fundraiser. “So, hopefully we can maintain that momentum,” he added. 

The contest works by residents buying raffle tickets. If their name is called, they have a chance to win the full pot if they draw the Queen of Hearts. If not, they win the smaller weekly prize and the pot continues to grow until someone draws the Queen. The progressive pot now exceeds $190,000 as of publication date.

Pigeon said that, after dispersing the winnings, his organization will take home over $300,000 to use on multiple projects over the year. 

“We have close to 200 projects in our nine different sectors,” said Pigeon. “We have a sector of cancer treatment, overall hospital network, youth services, mental health, readaptation, elderly homes, research and supporting the recruitment of human resources for CISSSO.”

SOS Outaouais has a goal of raising $50,000 with the fundraiser in an attempt to address the $200 million shortfall that the region sees in healthcare funding. 

For more information on SOS Outaouais or to buy lottery tickets, visit: https://fondationsanteoutaouais.ca/lotos-loteries/.