When he got the phone call saying that he had won, Derris White of Swift Current thought it was a prank.

"When I answered the phone and he said I was the grand prize winner I was trying to recognize the voice because I thought somebody was punking me for sure. I thought someone was playing a joke and I thought that's a terrible joke."

But it wasn't a terrible joke. In fact, it wasn't a joke at all. A last-minute decision after hearing about it on the radio ended up winning the Swift Current couple $50,000; the grand prize of this year's Elks Charity Lottery.

Chris Svab, the provincial president of the Saskatchewan Elks Association, doesn't recall a prize that large being handed out in Saskatchewan before.

"Most of our lottos up until this year were the sort of tickets on a Honda Civic or something, three for five-dollar, or $20,000 type of thing."

He said that the total prize for this year's fifty-dollar lottery draw and a concurrent 50-50 draw was about $78,000, of which the Whites took home the majority share.

Svab and Elks Publicity Director Harold Claffey were on hand at Redhead Equipment in Swift Current yesterday to hand out the cheques.

Jeff Slabik accepts his third place prize of $1,500
Jeff Slabik accepts his third place prize of $1,500With three choices of either taking the cash, taking $1,000 per week for a year, or taking a brand new Dodge or Ford 4x4 Crew Cab Truck, the Whites took the cash.

The opportunity to live debt-free for the first time in 36 years was too good to pass up. And while Judy says that they might upgrade their vehicles, they'll be taking some time to think about it beforehand.

The Slabicks as well heard about the lottery on the radio.

A second prize of $2000 was also won by Swift Current resident Mych Soron.

The money raised by the lottery goes towards the Elks foundation for supporting the needs of children with hearing loss and their families.