RAPS 2024 50/50 Lottery – We’ve got a winner!
IN MEMORY OF MILO, A BELOVED CAT TRAGICALLY LOST JUST WEEKS EARLIER, EVELYNE MONROE CONTRIBUTED TO THE RAPS 50/50 CONTEST. SHE SEES THE HAND OF FATE – OR, RATHER, A PAW OF FATE – IN HER FORTUNATE WINDFALL! AND IT COULDN’T HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME.
Evelyne Monroe is celebrating after winning the jackpot of $21,600 in the RAPS 50/50 draw!
Evelyne bought the tickets as a way to support animals, in honour of her beloved cat, Milo, who was tragically killed by a coyote June 20.
Milo was an extraordinary cat – and he and Evelyne had a profound bond. So profound, in fact, that she thinks Milo had a hand in securing the jackpot for her – a financial windfall that could not have come at a better time.
Milo and Evelyne moved to Vancouver recently from Nelson, forced to the coast because the sadly recurrent seasonal forest fires were playing havoc on Evelyne’s health. Unfortunately, the move meant upending Milo from a happy existence in amid an incredible variety of animal friends in and around their three-acre property.
“He was a Kootenay cat,” Evelyne says. “He loved to be with the farm animals, he was a huge animal lover. We had goats and chickens and ducks and the neighbors had dogs and other cats. He loved other cats so much.”
Milo’s admiration for other cats was sometimes unrequited, but his response was merely to roll on his back. Incredibly, Milo was event friends with the birds, hanging out with them and never getting rough or attempting to catch them. When lizards would cross his path, Milo would clean them, rather than trying to harm them.
“He was so sweet,” she says. “It was a tough decision to bring him to the city. In the city, you don’t really think about predators that much. I searched and searched for a place because I wanted a quiet tree-lined street with no traffic.”
They settled in a basement suite in Point Grey but, on the fateful day, Milo scooted out the door and was attacked by a coyote.
“It just happened in broad daylight,” says Evelyne.
“I was grieving very hard,” she says. “I actually hired this animal communicator because I was grieving so hard. He helps people with animal grieving.”
Meanwhile, Evelyne went online to find an animal charity to donate to in Milo’s memory.
“I wanted to donate to something on behalf of Milo because Milo loved animals,” she says. She stumbled upon RAPS online. “I thought that’s kind of cool, he would love that. It’s a no-kill shelter and their doing so many great things. They’ve got a veterinary clinic, they’ve got volunteers — I just looked into it and thought, what a cool thing.”
She was getting ready to donate when she saw the 50/50 contest.
“I clicked on that and made a donation,” she says of buying her first bundle of tickets. “Once I budgeted, I thought, I think I have a little bit extra and I want to make an extra donation on behalf of Milo, so that’s what happened.”
Good thing she did! It was a ticket from the second batch that held the winning number.
The win could not have come at a better time.
She was hiking with her ex-husband and her phone was on silent when RAPS called with the good news.
“I was walking with him and telling him how I was stressed out with finances,” Evelyne recalls. “I have all these bills to pay. RAPS actually called me at the exact same moment that he and I were hiking.
When she got back to the car and checked her voicemail, she was incredulous.
“I said, I think I just won the lottery,” Evelyne says, laughing. “I found out that it was the amount that I need for school and my bills and everything. It was almost literally the amount to the dollar.”
Luck? Maybe.
Evelyne sees a hand of fate at work. A paw of fate, more specifically.
During the session with the animal grief counsellor, Evelyne was told that Milo would give her a gift “on a silver platter.”
“I kind of just ignored it because I thought, that’s weird,” she says. “It wasn’t until yesterday that I thought, Is this actually happening? So, I started crying because my first reaction was, Oh my gosh, Milo, my little guy.
Evelyne is paying off some bills and ferreting away tuition to study acupuncture this fall. She hopes to open a spa in the near future.
Aside from that, she is not planning on splurging on luxuries just yet.
“Just healthy food and the ability to manage the cost of living,” she says. “I do want to spend a little bit of it on something special but I just don’t know yet. I’ll have to figure that out.”
We could not be more thrilled that Evelyne is the winner of our 2024 50/50 draw!
Because of Evelyne’s contributions in Milo’s memory, and because of the hundreds of people who participated in this year’s contest, RAPS will be able to save and improve the lives of even more animals!
Thank you to everyone who participated.
And CONGRATULATIONS EVELYNE!
