An extension on their 50/50 draw proved to be a silver lining to the cloud of COVID-19 for Special Olympics Estevan. They extended the deadline far later into the year than usual and were rewarded with a near-sellout of tickets. 

"Our provincial 50/50 started back in February with an original draw date of June," said fundraising coordinator Kandyce Meili. "But, because of COVID, we did extend that draw date to October 23. We were able to sell tickets right up until September 30."

And sell tickets they certainly did. In fact, they nearly sold out the booklets they brought back to Estevan. According to Meili, the city once again showed its penchant for generosity and lived up to its reputation as something of a last-minute town where ticket sales are concerned. 

"At the beginning, we had to choose how many tickets we wanted to sell," she said. "We chose 50 books of tickets. It was slow going at first, but in the last couple of weeks here we were actually able to sell 45 out of the 50 books of tickets." 

Considering the number of ticket books was decided before COVID-19 hit, nearly selling them out was no small feat. The ticket sales raised about $2300, half of which will come directly back to Estevan to help run Special Olympics programs here.

"I didn't expect we would get that many sold in the short amount of time since we started selling again," said Meili. "I had high expectations back in February, and when everything got shut down I was worried we wouldn't be able to sell very many at all. But, as usual, our community rallied around us and did make it a good sale."

A lot of SOE's usual fundraisers either couldn't happen this year or, in the case of the Law Enforcement Torch Run, had to go virtual. With that in mind, the money raised from the 50/50 this year becomes extra important to running their programs, which are scheduled to start up again at the end of the month. 

"We normally have a few barbecue fundraisers and a ball game, so we missed out on those this year," Meili said. "So being able to do this successfully was really good for our athletes and our program."

Meili added that they are still looking for volunteers, specifically bowling coaches. The 50/50 draw will take place on October 23 and the winner could take home as much as $24,500.