Chase the Ace

  I spoke a little about this on a previous post and since the kids are making dinner....fingers crossed it's edible.....I have some spare time. Chase the Ace is a Nova Scotia fundraising phenomenon! It's everywhere and is raising much needed cash for small communities. In HUGE quantities.

  It's a very simple concept. You sell tickets and if your number is drawn you pick a card out of a standard deck of cards. If you get the ace of spades you win the jackpot. If you don't you still win a percentage of that nights take. The jackpot is carried over week after week til someone draws the winner.

  The one I went to had a jackpot of $34,000! Tickets cost twenty dollars for three or five...I forget which. The consolation prize was $4,300. Not bad returns for a twenty dollar investment.

  As I understand it, and I'm by no means an expert, 50% goes to the organization which was the volunteer fire department in my case. 20% goes to the lucky person who's number was pulled. With the remaining 30% added to the on going jackpot. Using these values that would mean over $21,000 was taken in that night alone! Crazy!

  What an amazing way to raise money for community projects. But it wasn't all about the "ace". People were playing cards, laughing, socializing with their neighbors. The bar was open and a few folks were having a beer or a soda. It was a few hours of fun to end the week.

  Bravo to these east coast communities for finding inventive ways to bring the community together and fund the many social programs they do. It was fun.

  Even if I didn't win.

  Ang