February 6, 2020

$1M win soaking in for lottery grand prize winner

What seemed like an average Thursday for Ron Lypchuk, took a turn for the extraordinary after receiving a phone call that changed everything.

Last week, Lypchuk was leaving the mayor’s state of the city address in Prince Albert, and just as he was getting into his car his phone rang.

“You’ve won the million dollars,” said lottery ambassador Cohyn Wells, who first broke the news to Lypchuk over the phone.

“I was really in disbelief for quite a while. I thought somebody was pulling a prank on me, but then I realized it was for real,” Lypchuk said.

When Lypchuk first purchased his Touchdown for Kids Millionaire Lottery ticket last October, he never thought he’d be the one taking home the grand prize, but instead saw it as a great way to support Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation.

“You honestly don’t think you’re going to win, but you always think to yourself it would be nice,” said Lypchuk. “I wasn’t looking at the big prize. I thought, well there’s hundreds of secondary prizes, and it would be nice to get one of those maybe, but you’re never thinking you’ll win the big one.”

Lypchuk is still deciding exactly how he plans to use the money, but he said it will make his retirement easier when he decides to do so. As for now, he’s enjoying letting the reality of becoming a millionaire sink in.

“I’ve had a lot of nice, warm texts and phone calls from everybody. I didn’t realize I had that many friends,” laughed Lypchuk. “I’ve been selling real estate for 42 years, so it was a lot of people just phoning to congratulate me, really warm congratulations, which was really nice.”

As a RE/MAX agent, Lypchuk has been supporting Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation for 16 years. RE/MAX has raised more than $57 million across Canada as national sponsor of Children’s Miracle Network. The funds are primarily generated through the Miracle Home Program, where agents donate a percentage of each real estate transaction to their local Children’s Miracle Network member hospital.

“It’s a very good cause to support children and it’s something RE/MAX has rallied behind. It’s very heartwarming and you feel like you’re actually doing something good for the community,” Lypchuk said.

The Touchdown for Kids Millionaire Lottery is a partnership between the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation and Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation. The funds raised go to support amateur sport, education, health and wellness initiatives for the province’s youth, as well as maternal and children’s health care in Saskatchewan and at Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.

The lottery featured 2,100 prizes, including the grand prize of $1 million, an early bird prize of $500,000, as well as 13 brand new vehicles, six luxury vacation packages, 41 exciting Roughrider experiences, 213 electronics prizes and 1,100 gift card prizes.

For more news and updates, follow the #TFKML hashtag on social media, @td4kidslottery on Twitter and Instagram and Touchdown for Kids Millionaire Lottery on Facebook.