Lisa C. was heading out the door to lunch and to see the Edmonton Fringe show Old-ish. The phone rang. The display read “CKUA.”
“I thought, ‘well, that can only mean one thing,’” she says.
The Edmontonian hadn’t checked the 50/50 prize total in a week. She thought it was still around $76,000.
When the good news – she had indeed won – was confirmed by Greg Latham, CKUA Development Manager, “I thought he said $104,000,” says Lisa. “I thought, ‘wow, the total really jumped!’”
When she realized it was actually $140,265, “it was just sort of unreal, like … ‘what?’”
She immediately called her husband. “He said, ‘wow, that’s a lot of money,’ and as I was talking to him, it was slowly dawning on me, ‘holy crap, I won a lot of money.'”
After some thought, she and her husband decided to start with practicalities – home repairs and a vehicle replacement. Whatever dollars were left over would fund a big trip.
“I did run out and buy myself some shoes immediately,” Lisa laughs. She already had two weekend trips with girlfriends booked and so covered some expenses for her friends. “I’m throwing a little mad money out there and having fun with it.”
Lisa most often listens to CKUA on her way to visit her mother in St. Albert. Her shows of choice are Thoroughfare and Roy’s Record Room.
“It’s a nice calm station with some really good music,” she says. She saw buying 50/50 tickets as a way to give back.
“I really didn’t expect to win,” she says. “I thought it was a nice way to support CKUA. The fact that I won is fantastic but it was completely unexpected.”
Lisa is a retired lab technologist. “I retired last year in November so it’s nice to have a blob of money come at you all at once,” she says.
An avid cyclist and live music and theatre lover, she says her favourite thing is just being out and about.
It’s been a great few weeks since she heard the news. “It’s quite exciting. I haven’t had this much fun, ever.”
