A spokesperson for the Vita arena says their Chase The Ace fundraiser exceeded all expectations.

Board member Shirley Wiebe says the Ace was drawn last week after a pot of $32,020 had accumulated. That total is split 50/50 between the arena and Lorraine Franklin of Vita who ended up pulling the winning card.

"She was very, very happy," reflects Wiebe. "I asked her what she was going to do with the money and she was hoping to buy a car."

(Vita arena)According to Wiebe, the arena has been around for more than fifty years and needs a little work. She notes the board will use its share of the money for general maintenance and some repairs to their Zamboni.

The arena puts in real ice and so Wiebe says it will probably be a couple of months yet before they are skating. She notes it gets quite a bit of use throughout the winter but the board would love to see it busier.

Wiebe says this is the first time they have organized a Chase The Ace and hopefully it won't be their last. She adds the board is very impressed with the support felt by the community and says about 250 people came to the Vita Hotel on winning night.

"We started at 8 pm and within the first hour we had sold over four thousand tickets," she says.

Wiebe admits the board was both thankful and sorry to see the fundraiser end last week. On the one hand, it is now over, which means the planning and execution is now in the past. On the other hand, the longer the fundraiser goes, the larger the pot grows. According to Wiebe, the fundraiser could have gone four more weeks at the very most. She says they were not expecting this sort of response.

"We took out a license of up to ten thousand dollars and obviously we exceeded that, so we had to get an additional license," notes Wiebe. "We just never thought we would have the turnout we did, so it was great."