For longtime Drumheller area resident and CKUA listener Brenda C., the call came on an ordinary morning over coffee.
“My phone started ringing, I looked over at it, and CKUA was coming across the screen and I thought, ‘What!?’”
It was CKUA CEO Adam Mitchell, calling to let her know that she was the winner of CKUA’s biggest 50/50 jackpot ever.
“I’m still in shock and don’t know what it means to me,” Brenda says. “It’s going to take awhile for me to realize what this all means, because that’s a lot of money.”
Brenda C. is the winner of CKUA’s biggest 50/50 jackpot ever, with her share totaling $279,812. As far as plans for the winnings, she and her family are planning to focus on practicality first.
“I’m going to replace my 2007 Ford Taurus with something a lot newer,” Brenda says with a chuckle. “And we want to do some work on our little house. I want to put in a new front step, extend the deck, paint the house…just spruce things up around here.”
Funnily enough, it was home renovations that introduced her and her husband to CKUA more than 20 years ago.
“A friend of mine [and monthly donor] was doing some renovations on our house around 2004, and he was listening to it all the time,” Brenda recalls.
Although her and her husband’s work as truck drivers took them away from the province regularly, they continued to enjoy CKUA while they were home. Now that they’re both retired, they continue to enjoy the variety of programming on CKUA airwaves.
“CKUA seems to benefit so many different people from all walks of life because of all the different programs that are played,” Brenda says.
For Brenda, supporting CKUA is about helping ensure a unique community resource remains on the air for future listeners. Although she’s a longtime supporter of the station, this is the first year she’s purchased 50/50 tickets. She did so at the encouragement of a friend and coworker who’s also an avid CKUA listener.
“I thought…I’m making a little bit of extra money, I’ll buy some tickets too,” Brenda recalls. “I think I’ve done it four times over the year. The fourth time was the charm.”
Brenda believes donations and 50/50 ticket purchases play a vital role in sustaining the station.
“The only way to keep [CKUA] on-air is through donations,” Brenda says. “If we didn’t do that, I don’t know what would happen. It would just be gone.”
Congratulations, Brenda, and thank you for continuing to support CKUA!
Enjoy this musical request from our 50/50 winner Brenda C., Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”:
