Winning ticket lands couple a dream home

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Who said last-minute shopping is a bad thing?

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Well, don’t tell that to Vera and John Robertson, who purchased their winning Mighty Millions fall lottery ticket at the last minute and when the lottery, in support of the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, was more than 97 per cent sold.

Now, they’re the grand prize winners of a 5,100-square-foot lottery home by Newground Developments — a bit over that if you include the large bungalow’s finished basement — and have an extra $100,000 cash in their pockets as part of the grand prize package.

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“It was a shock,” said John, who at first thought his wife might be playing an April Fools’ joke on him even though it was late November when the couple, both first responders, found out about their win. He was convinced Vera was pulling his leg.

“And I’m, like, I am serious,” said Vera. “I wouldn’t joke about this.”

But even Vera, who is a police officer — John is a retired firefighter with the military and has found a second career — was suspicious at first when she got the call from Mighty Millions.

“I got a phone call from an unknown number,” said Vera about what would turn out to be possibly the best phone call she ever received. “Being a police officer, my first though is OK, it’s somebody trying to scam you — you can’t help but think that way.”

It didn’t help that when she picked up the phone that no one answered. Though they did call right back.

When she realized the call was legitimate, she was speechless.

“I was like, oh my God, is this real!” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it!”

Ironically, they almost didn’t buy a ticket this year even though with all the worthwhile charitable organizations out there, this is the one — the Stollery Children’s Hospital — they decided they would always support as it’s near and dear to them.

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“We’ve always bought because it does hold a place in our hearts,” said Vera, noting that their own kids have had to use the Stollery Children’s Hospital and they have friends whose children who had to use it, too. “That was always the organization that we supported because it’s such an important place.”

But this year, for whatever reason, perhaps fate, they held off on purchasing a ticket for the fall Mighty Millions lottery — the lottery also has a spring edition.

“The deadline was midnight that night and the night before we kind of questioned do we or don’t we, and then we’re like, yeah, let’s do it,” said Vera.

So they bought a three-pack of tickets with the last of the three being the winning one.

The grand prize is valued at $2.5 million and the lottery home, located in the southwest in Windermere Grande, features a pub-style wet bar, a three-season screened-in covered patio, a sunken TV room for movies, gaming or able to be transformed into a golf simulator and much more.

As to whether they will actually keep the lottery house, neither Vera nor John had a made a decision. But they did agree that they will move out of their 950-square-foot St. Albert apartment and into the new home with plans to host a big, joyous Christmas in the new digs. But after that, it’s too early to say, said the couple, who previous to winning the grand prize, had purchased and are building a brand new home in Spruce Grove so they could be closer to family.

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“We’ll live here (in the lottery home) for a little bit and then kind of make our decision,” said Vera.

Funds raised from the fall edition of Mighty Millions, which sold out its 79,000 tickets with just hours to go, will go to the purchase of highly specialized pediatric equipment and further investments in pediatric research, said Karen Faulkner, president and CEO of the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.

The sellout, added Faulkner, means $2.2 million will be available to the foundation, which plans to use part of that towards jet ventilators (often used with newborns, especially pre-term babies) and specialized beds that allow parents to cuddle up with their children who are in palliative care.

The Stollery is the most specialized children’s hospital in Western Canada, responding to as many as 305,478 patient visits each year.

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