Staff Lottery celebrates major milestone

By College Relations | March 15, 2021
           

Rhyscia Cerda
Rhyscia Cerda

It's been only three months since the Okanagan College Foundation set an ambitious goal, called the Staff Lotto Stretch, to sign up 150 new participants to its 50/50 Staff Lottery by December of this year.

Now, they're thanking faculty and employees for stepping up in a major way with 50 new sign ups to date. 

"We have more people playing the Staff Lotto than ever before," says Dawn Douglas, Okanagan College Foundation Executive Assistant and Staff Lottery administrator.

"Our jackpot is now more than $700 every payday and an additional $700 is available for students experiencing an emergency. We know an emergency bursary can mean the difference between a student completing their education or not, and we're so thankful to see participation grow. "

Rhyscia Cerda marked the 50th OC staff member to sign up. The Aboriginal Services Assistant says she joined for a chance to win the bi-weekly jackpot while helping students in need.

"It wasn’t that long ago that I was a student myself and between the coursework and trying to keep myself afloat financially, the stress was pretty significant," says Cerda, who graduated from OC's Human Service Work program in 2014.

"There are a lot of students out there who don’t have family that they can ask for financial help if they find themselves in a tough situation so emergency bursaries are a definitely a lifeline in those times."

 

Kristen Diehl

Kristen Diehl, Women in Trades Training Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator, recently won a $717.50 jackpot. 

"Is there ever a time when a little extra cash doesn't come in handy? I’ll be mostly tucking this prize away. My fiancé and I are house hunting and planning a wedding, so there’s plenty of empty piggy banks in need of padding."

The Okanagan College Foundation is hoping to see 100 more sign ups over the next six months to meet its goal of creating a $1,000 bi-weekly jackpot for staff and $1,000 in bi-weekly support for students facing unexpected financial hardship.

There is now an online form to sign up for the 50/50 Staff Lottery. To learn more and to join, click here: https://www.okanagan.bc.ca/oc-foundation/staff-lotto



Tags: OC Foundation

TOP STORIES

RELATED STORIES

Sign up for weekly stories




Trending

Communications student standing outside the Centre for Learning building at the Kelowna campus
Meet Ruth Gabriela Melo Flores

April 4, 2023

Q: What's your name? A: Ruth Gabriela Melo Flores Q: What's your hometown? A: Quito – Ecuador – South America Q: How did you end up at Okanagan College? A: Well, I studied for a bachelor's degree in Law in Ecuador. Then, I worked for a while and got my Master's degree in Government and Culture of Organizations at the University of Pamplona.  When I returned to my country, professional opportunities arose for me. I mean, a Master's degree improved my career. Spain helped ...

Read more...
Animation student
Artistic students design future careers in animation

June 7, 2022

Grads of Okanagan College’s Animation Diploma program are finding their skills have never been in higher demand. First- and second-year students showed samples of their artwork and demo reels to industry partners at OC’s annual Animation Industry Night on May 17. “Lots of the work was very professional,” says James Wood, Chair of Okanagan College’s Animation Department. “Our program is short, but intense. The instructors make sure the students have a realistic understanding of what they need do to succeed in a competitive and demanding...

Read more...
JAMK campus
OC Business students embrace international study again

May 30, 2022

Business students from Okanagan College are once again able to travel to Jyväskylä, Finland to experience an international summer school at the JAMK University of Applied Sciences.  Finland’s education system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world.  OC Business Professor Blair Baldwin, who has taught Services Design at JAMK for several summers, says working in Finland has helped him innovate and create new teaching methodologies. “JAMK employs experiential learning across its curriculum,” he says. “They stress cri...

Read more...
Enactus 2022
Enactus Okanagan College tops the field, sets sights on national championships

May 27, 2022

Okanagan College students will once again be competing for the Canadian title after qualifying for the Enactus National Exposition with a first-place finish in their league during the semi-final round. Enactus teams at post-secondary institutions across Canada competed virtually earlier this month, and Okanagan College scooped up top position in the TD Entrepreneurship Challenge, and runner-up in the Scotiabank Climate Action Challenge for the Unusually Good Food Co. project. It also included national runner-up in Shaw and RBC accelerator...

Read more...