On Thursday, April 23rd, the winning ticket (#01848), drawn from approximately 7,500 entries, belonged to Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Heffrod of Ellijay, GA. The Heffrod’s designated card #10 as their choice, which turned out to be the Queen of Hearts. The Heffrod’s won 50% of the $96,085 jackpot, which was $48,042. While some of the participants were dismayed that an out of state resident won the grand prize, the story really does have a heartwarming nature.
You see, the Heffrod’s were residents of the nearby Rotunda community in 2022, when their home was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. They were forced to move to Ellijay, GA, where they lived among family and friends until they could get back on their feet. They were in town last week in search of affordable housing, so they could return to Southwest Florida, and they just happened to stop in Beef O’Brady’s for a bite to eat last Thursday night. Mrs. Heffrod saw the jackpot total and said, “what the heck, it won’t hurt to by a few tickets” because they literally had nothing to lose.
When their ticket was drawn and they became the grand prize winners, the Heffrod’s were ecstatic and very emotional. Above all, when their story was relayed to those in attendance, everyone felt quite good that the Heffrod’s finally had something to celebrate after years of disappointment, sorrow and frustration. After all, the mission of our Foundation is to help those in need, and this fundraising initiative really turned out to fit that bill. On behalf of the Heffrod’s and all of the North Port neighbors who will benefit from this fundraising initiative, we’d like to thank all of the Queen of Hearts participants for their support.
Many people have asked if we will start a new Queen of Hearts board anytime soon, and that will be determined by the Board of Directors in the coming weeks ahead. For now, we plan to take a few weeks off to determine that viability of running a second game.
