Nic Raffle Sends Winner Through The Roof

A Washington woman who swears she never won anything before got an awesome call Wednesday night.

“You’re kidding!” exclaimed Ethelyn Carr of Otis Orchards when Rayelle Anderson phoned to say Carr won a house in the North Idaho College Foundation’s Really BIG Raffle.

Rhonda Williams of Coeur d’Alene wasn’t home when Anderson called, but she was prepared. Her message machine said:

“If this is about the Really BIG Raffle, I’m going to scream!”

She would have reason to scream. She won second prize: $20,000 for a boat or car.

In all, the foundation gave away $275,000 worth of prizes in its fourth annual raffle. The drawings were held in Fort Sherman Park on the shoreline campus in Coeur d’Alene.

Some 600 people showed up, the biggest audience ever, in hopes of hearing their names. The raffle always sells out its 4,000 tickets and has raised $800,000 for scholarships and equipment over the past four years.

The top prize is the product of NIC carpentry students. This year, it’s worth more than $200,000 and located in the Highlands Golf Course neighborhood in Post Falls.

Carr hadn’t seen the house but was making plans to go there Wednesday night. This is the second time she’s bought one of the $100 tickets, she said. She didn’t think she could afford it this year, so her brother, Curt Alston of Idaho Falls, sent her the money.

Maybe the house is his, Carr said.

“I’m shaking!” she said as the news began to sink in.

The other top winners were Jaime Perea of Harrison, Idaho, who won a $2,000 shopping spree; and Tom Wuest of Coeur d’Alene, who got a $3,500 travel package.

, DataTimes