The early bird draw for the Portage District General Hospital Foundation lottery was won by Carl Klassen from Newton. The money raised by the lottery's going toward the purchase of a heliport beside the hospital. Klassen picked up his cheque today at the Portage Clinic.

"I won $10,000 and it feels fantastic. I was glad just to purchase a ticket and support the community. I think what they're doing is great. We're the second community to have a heliport. There's one in Winnipeg I've heard, and now we're the second one." says Klassen. "I'm thinking someday I may need that helicopter or somebody in my family or my friends."

He adds he didn't initially inform his wife that he bought the tickets, joking that he paid cash and she didn't need to know. When he told her they won, she asked if it was a thousand dollars or so. She shook her head when she heard it was ten thousand.

Klassen says the prizes were all great, and notes he felt they did a great job organizing it, making it no problem deciding to purchase three tickets. He explains he was undecided about which prize to choose, noting it was a toss-up between a quad and $10,000 cash. After he and his wife discussed it at length, he decided he'd take the cash seeing as they already own a quad. He plans on taking his kids and six grandchildren on a trip to Disneyland in the near future.

He explains he looked at the pamphlets to see where the tickets were on sale and decided to purchase them at the source, the Portage Hospital Gift Shop, thinking it would have the best chances of his money going where it needed to go.

Foundation chair Dale Lyle says 2,800 tickets are sold so far, with 1,700 left. He urges you to get yours for this very worthwhile cause as soon as you can. They're expecting to be sold out soon. The 50-50 amount is up to $60,000 now. Lyle says he expects it will reach the $100,000 mark. Seeing as there are 4,500 tickets, the chances of winning are one-in-4,500.

Lyle notes the Klassens won the early bird draw and are still in for the overall draw, later on, giving them the potential of winning everything.

Executive director Erin Miller says tickets are available at Century 21, Travel Quest, the Portage Clinic, the Portage Hospital Gift Shop, the Foundation office, Portage Toyota, or Enns Brothers. They're $100 each. If you already bought one 50-50 you can buy as many additional tickets as you want.