Editor's note: this story was previously posted on StratfordToday.ca.
It's a big win for the Human Society of Kitchener Waterloo and Stratford Perth, along with an Ottawa woman. The local organization was able to score tickets to the sold out Toronto leg of the Taylor Swift Era’s Tour and decided to raise some funds for the organization in the process.
“Like everyone else, our roughly 40-member team mashed the Ticketmaster refresh button like everyone else, and one of our staff member’s husband was the one who successfully was able to get us the tickets,” said Adam Stephens, marketing and communications director with the Human Society of Kitchener Waterloo and Stratford Perth.
Along with the tickets to see Taylor Swift, the organization decided to conduct a 50/50 draw with the tickets and half the money as the grand prize.
“We wanted to do it as a 50/50 raffle as that is one type that you can do without a defined limit from the Ontario Gaming Commission," said Stephens. “Our overall goal was $40,000 which would mean $20,000 for us and the winner each. We knew the tickets would go relatively high, but we had absolutely no idea it would be like this.”
The draw was marketed all around the province, with ticket packages available in ways that are significant to Taylor herself. The biggest package was 999 tickets for $250, and that was the most popular package purchased. There were other packages centered around the numbers 89 and 13 available as well.
The grand prize winner was a lucky woman named Eva Linn, who has already seen Taylor Swift on eleven different occasions but this time she also took home $362,901, her half of the 50/50 draw with the HSKWSP.
“It’s a big chunk of money that can be used in areas that need it most,” said Stephens. “A great example would be animal care or the medical facilities. If we spent the money on spaying and neutering next year, there would be enough for almost 5,000 to take place. The money however will be used for other areas including our capital campaign.”
That capital campaign will see a rather large project come to fruition.
“We are hoping to build a community outreach centre to go along with our humane societies,” said Stephens. “We have come to realize that providing a full spectrum of care in our community incorporates educational programming including things like tick removal.”
