Vancouver- Vancouver’s Brenda Allen is the grand prize winner of the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation and B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund 2007 Hometown Heroes Lottery. Brenda and husband Ken have chosen to take the $1.7 million luxury home package in South Surrey over the cash option.

Although Allen has purchased tickets for the Hometown Heroes Lottery for the past five years, it was a big surprise to finally hit the jackpot.

“My first reaction was disbelief,” said Allen, who purchased a package of eight tickets for $250 from the Hometown Heroes Lottery. “The house is about 10 times the size of our current place, so it’s a big change for us.”

The house, a 5,100 square-foot, five bedroom, five bathroom, three level luxury home, is the centerpiece of a grand prize package which also includes a 2007 Mazda CX-7 GT and $50,000 cash.

Proceeds from the lottery help fund brand-new equipment and breakthrough medical research for the latest treatments at VGH & UBC Hospital and help benefit the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund’s many burn and safety programs.

“When I buy a lottery ticket, I want to know that I’m supporting a worthy cause,” said Allen.

“Our thanks go out to everyone who purchased lottery tickets to fund brand new, life-saving equipment and pioneering research at our hospitals,” said Ron Dumouchelle, president & CEO, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. “Those funds help the world-renowned health care professionals here deliver the ‘super-specialized’ patient care to people from across British Columbia.”

“The generosity of the community through the Hometown Heroes Lottery is crucial to the continued development and delivery of the essential programs, services, equipment and support so desperately needed by burn survivors, families, caregivers, and hospitals,” says Tony Burke, Executive Director of the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.

A registered charity established in 1978 by the BC Professional Fire Fighters Association, the Burn Fund provides life saving, life supporting, and life enriching services to the people in British Columbia. More than 3,400 professional fire fighters from 48 communities around the province are building the Burn Fund’s vision. They dedicate their time and skills to support burn survivors and increase the public’s knowledge about fire and burn safety issues through the work the Burn Fund does with its Prevention, Burn Awareness, Survivor Support and Research Programs.

The VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation is a registered charity that raises funds for the latest, most sophisticated medical equipment, world-class research and improvements to patient care for Vancouver General Hospital, UBC Hospital, GF Strong Rehab Centre and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. For more than 25 years, the Foundation and its donors have been a bridge between the essential health care governments provide and the most advanced health care possible.

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For more information:
Jon Hicke
Director, Marketing & Communications
Tel: 604.875.5196
[email protected]