Your chance to win a sauna and a lot of beer (for a great cause)

A steaming hot sauna isn’t usually something you think about just as our weather is (finally) starting to warm up, but Margaret Gardner, Ontario Finnish Resthome Foundation fund development coordinator, wants you to know a new sauna is just one of several great prizes available if you buy a ticket for the Ontario Finnish Resthome Association’s 3rd annual Harvest Fest Draw, to be held Sept. 7.

Funds raised from tickets sold (6,000 of them available, at $20 each) go to the purchase of a new bus to take the Ontario Finnish Resthome’s assisted living and long term care residents on various outings.

The new bus, Gardner said, will offer improved accessibility for the residents.

The bus will cost $150,000, to be drawn from current ticket sales and previous draws.

“We’re confident of getting the bus next year, but it would be nice if we could get it this year,” Gardner said.

“The residents really do need it, it gives them a better quality of life to be able to go on outings and attend different events, and we also can allow family members to come along.”

“It will be for all residents of OFRA, including those in our two independent living buildings….those residents can use the bus and go out on outings themselves,” Gardner said.

This year’s draw consists of a whopping $43,000 prize package consisting of four prizes, the sauna being the grand prize (a 12-foot white cedar barrel sauna with change room and wood stove from Leisure Living) along with a kegorator for beer lovers and a $592.50 certificate for beer from Northern Superior Brewing.

“The overall prize package is an increase of $10,000 (over last year),” Gardner told SooToday as volunteers sold tickets for the draw outside Rome’s Your Independent Grocer.

The Friday, Sept. 7 draw will take place at The Machine Shop at 9:30 p.m., accompanied by a four-course dinner provided by The Mill Steakhouse, a silent auction, live auction, a 50/50 draw and live music by Highway 638.

Tickets for The Machine Shop bash for the Ontario Finnish Resthome are $50, or a table of 10 people for $450.

Proceeds from The Machine Shop event will go toward OFRA’s 64 new, recently-announced, government-approved long term care beds, the money to pay for those non-government funded extras to be included along with the beds.

Apart from the sauna/beer keg grand prize, other prizes include:

• A 2018 Polaris Ranger 570 side-by-side from Rivercity Motorsports or $10,000 cash (first prize)
• Custom Miralis kitchen cabinets and design services from Soo Mill or $6,000 cash (second prize)
• A 2018 18 foot all aluminum car trailer from Rivercity Motorsports or $4,000 cash (third prize)

“I prefer a side by side (over an ATV),” Gardner chuckled.

Sponsors include Leisure Living, Sal-Dan Developments, Northern Superior Brewing, Sault Chiropody Clinic and SK Group.

Among many Sault and area businesses selling tickets are:

• Foster’s Freshmart
• Tippy Canoe
• Bobber’s
• Soo Mill
• Fountain Tire
• Healthgear Medical Mart
• Joe’s Sports & Surplus
• Sault Chiropody
• Bergamin’s
• Rome’s
• Community First (Bay Street)
• Wizard Cuts
• Trading Post

For more information, contact Margaret Gardner, Ontario Finnish Resthome Foundation fund development coordinator, at (705) 945-9987 extension 257 or by email at [email protected]