Meet the woman who won the largest 50-50 draw in Nova Scotia history | 24CA News

A Nova Scotia lady says she by no means believed she’d turn out to be a millionaire and win the most important 50-50 draw within the province’s historical past.

On Thursday night, Kayla Eldridge was introduced because the winner of the Nova Scotia Firefighters 50-50 on-line raffle, which was described as the most important draw of its form within the historical past of the province.

Eldridge received a staggering $1,467,620.

“I never thought in a million years that something like this would happen to me,” she stated.

Eldridge, who works as a LPN whereas taking courses part-time to turn out to be a registered nurse, stated she discovered of her winnings when a name got here in from Amherst with none caller identification.

She stated she was hesitant to reply as a result of she didn’t know of anybody from that Nova Scotia city.

“They asked if it was Kayla, do you have anybody with you, are you sitting down,” she continued. “And then they told me that I just won.”

“I started crying.”

The 50-50 draw, which is designed to lift cash to help firefighters throughout the province, is a weekly on-line jackpot that’s hosted by Nova Scotia Firefighters 50-50, a non-profit group.

The whole jackpot was $2.9 million, with 269 departments receiving the remaining proceeds from ticket gross sales following the break up.

Eldridge stated the very first thing she plans on doing is utilizing the cash to repay her remaining student-loan debt.

“It’s kind of exciting that I don’t have to worry about student debt anymore. I’ve gone to school many times, so I have quite a bit of student debt,” she stated.

She additionally hopes to buy a brand new home with just a little extra cupboard space. She stated she plans on gifting her present residence to her brother and 5-year-old nephew as soon as she’s moved.

When requested about her choice to purchase tickets for the draw, Eldridge revealed that she bought them “last-minute”, proper earlier than the deadline.

“I only spent ten bucks, got three numbers, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to win,” she stated.

As for her vacation plans, she stated the thrilling news hasn’t modified how she’s planning to spend her Christmas.

“I’m going to spend Christmas with my family,” she stated. “Go to my parents for supper tonight and then go to my aunt’s house for a party later.”

She stated she’s simply excited to have just a few days of labor off for the vacations.

Eldridge bought her tickets in help of the Hantsport Fire Department, which implies her native hearth station will obtain bonus earnings of $1,000 along with the quantity they’ll obtain from the preliminary break up.

“In an area like this, all of our firefighters are volunteers and they’re a big part of our community, so to help them out is a no brainer really,” she stated.

The subsequent on-line draw hosted by Nova Scotia Firefighters 50-50 will probably be on December 29.