THUNDER BAY – José Bordeleau says winning seems to win in her family.
Four years ago, one of her three daughters won a Jeep in the Timmins and District Hospital Lottery, when it first launched.
On Friday, she got life-changing news of her own.
Bordeleau, who calls Timmins home, got a call at 11 a.m., from Glenn Craig, the president and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation.
He asked her if she had plans for the weekend, and before Bordeleau could respond, Craig suggested she might want to make some.
“Have you connected the dots?” Craig asked, reminding the woman at the other end of the line that the Foundation calls the winner of the Thunder Bay 50/50 jackpot on the final Friday of every month.
“I have,” Bordeleau said, barely able to contain her sobs of joy.
“I was in a store and I just had to walk out.”
“Oh, you’re out shopping?” Craig asked. “Well, your budget has increased by a little bit.”
“All right. How much?” was the response.
That’s when she learned she’d won the fourth-largest payout in the 55-month history of the Thunder Bay 50/50 draw, taking home the $2,355,290 grand prize, a total that eclipsed the first December jackpot in 2021, the first time the draw crossed the seven-figure mark.
Bordeleau, who kept guessing for a minute or two on the final amount, said her husband was in the background questioning the legitimacy of the call.
“I said 'Louis, they call at 11. I saw the number,'” she said.
Bordeleau has no immediate plans for the month, but does have three daughters who all bought homes in the last year and are all getting married.
“So that’s amazing, to be able to help with that, for sure. When you win, you often don’t think of yourself, you think of others,” she said.
Bordeleau’s win marked the 24th straight month of jackpots over $1 million, the 28th time overall it’s hit $1 million or more.
Tickets for September’s draw are on sale now at www.thunderbay5050.ca, or at the Foundation’s Intercity Shopping Centre storefront near the food court.