CARIBOU, Maine – Tracy Emery of Caribou is the winner of a storage building that was raffled to benefit the Jefferson Cary Cancer Center. The winning ticket was drawn on Saturday, August 17 at Cary Medical Center’s 100th Anniversary Picnic. The raffle which began in June raised nearly $15,000.
Students from the Caribou Regional Technology Center Residential Construction Program built the 10 by 16-foot structure as a school project and donated the building to Cary Medical Center. The SW Collins Company donated materials for the building.
Commenting on winning the raffle, Emery said it was a big surprise. “I remember when I bought the tickets,” said the winner, who is a registered nurse doing local homecare. “I only bought three tickets. When I got the call from Kris Doody I was really surprised. This is a wonderful building, the students did a great job and it will make a great, ‘she shed’ for me.”
Dick Fortier, materials manager at Cary Medical Center, who came up with the idea of the building project as part of the hospital’s 100th anniversary, said the project was a great success.
“This project really involved a great number of people,” said Fortier. “We know the students were very proud of their work, as they should be, and hundreds of people purchased tickets for the raffle. This was a great community project to benefit our cancer center and a highlight of our 100th anniversary.”
Some 2100 tickets were sold for the building raffle raising nearly $15,000. Funds raised by the raffle will help to purchase furniture for the waiting area at the Jefferson Cary Cancer Center on the Cary campus.Kacey Soucy, RN, and nurse manager of the Cancer Center said that the funds generated by the raffle will really benefit the waiting area project.
“We want to make our Cancer Center waiting area an uplifting and comfortable place for our patients and families,” she said. “The funds raised by this raffle will go a long way in making this possible. We are so grateful to the students involved in constructing the building and to the S W Collins Company for their contribution of materials. We also thank all those who purchased a ticket for the building raffle.”
Johnathan Daggett, program instructor of the Residential Construction program, said that the building project meant a lot to his students and was a great learning experience.
“Our students really put a lot of work into this building,” said Daggett. “They worked during and after class time to complete the building by the end of the school year. Seeing the work they did turn into thousands of dollars to benefit the Jefferson Cary Cancer Center was very meaningful to the students.”
Todd Pelletier of S. W. Collins Company said that the company was very pleased with the outcome of the project, “Our company is very engaged in our community and we were very excited with the amount of money that was raised by the building project. The students did a great job and the quality of the building was reflected in the number of raffle tickets that were sold.”
Raffle tickets for the building were sold at Cary Medical Center, Daigle Oil Company in Presque Isle and S W Collins in Caribou.
Cary Medical Center is a 63-bed acute care hospital well known for its patient-centered services. We are a community of providers committed to excellence in healthcare and to improving the lives of those we serve. We are actively engaged in advancing the health and wellness needs of people in Aroostook County, including the unserved and underserved. Cary Medical Center and Pines Health Services are equal opportunity providers and employers.
