Someone will be living in style in Red Deer when STARS Lottery 2011 winners are announced this spring.
Doors opened on Thursday for the lottery launch at the grand-prize home at 4 Sorensen Close in Southbrook, valued at $900,000 retail.
The sophisticated 2,600-square-foot, three-bedroom home with two-and-a-half baths, built by Mason Martin Homes, is one of four furnished grand prize homes in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge.
Mason Martin operations manager Dwayne Eagleson called the Red Deer home “contemporary and very modern.”
“We thought we could go this way, to do something different and bring some new designs into Red Deer. You don’t see a lot of this in our general market,” Eagleson said.
The two-storey home has an open concept layout with cosmopolitan attitude. The living room has a 5.7-metre (19-foot) ceiling, with a dramatic floor-to-ceiling fireplace. Metal mesh stair railing adds an industrial detail.
The kitchen boasts quartz countertops, a walk-through pantry and stainless steel appliances, including an island induction cooktop with a pop-up downdraft hood fan.
The memorable master bedroom has a spa-like bathroom with a tiled, jetted tub, his-and-her sinks with quartz countertops, and a custom-tiled, door-less, walk-through shower.
It’s the 14th year a home in Red Deer has been included in STARS Lottery prizes.
The 18th annual lottery for the air ambulance service has prizes worth over $5.1 million.
About 50 per cent of the 895,000 tickets have already been sold.
The lottery will raise over $10 million at sellout to help pay wages, maintenance, fuel, communications, training, insurance and facility rent for the non-profit charitable organization.
STARS provides free 24-hour service, seven days a week to Albertans. Operating costs in 2009 came to $27 million, with 25 per cent of costs funded by Alberta Health Services.
STARS has flown close to 19,000 missions since it began in 1985. About half were responses to accidents.
In 2009, there were 83 missions to Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, by far the most trips to any hospital.
Erin Sharp, director of new initiatives with STARS, said the high number of missions to Red Deer is due to Central Alberta’s population and location.
“Whereas a lot of communities can only be reached from one of our bases, Red Deer is right in the middle. We can reach Red Deer from both our Calgary and Edmonton bases,” Sharp said.
STARS patient Dale Miller, 71, of Innisfail, said he’d wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for STARS.
In the last 30 years, Miller has had six heart attacks — two attacks in the last two years. After his most recent attack in March 2009, STARS came to Miller’s rescue in Innisfail.
“Both were very serious. I basically have one-third of my heart that is workable. The rest is all scar tissue. But I feel great and I love STARS and I hope I never have to have another helicopter trip.”
STARS Lottery tickets are available at www.starslottery.ca or by calling 1-888-880-0992.
Tickets are $25 each, five for $100, and 15 for $250.
The final draw will be held on April 13. But if tickets sell out early, all prizes will be drawn on the early-bird draw date of March 16.
The Red Deer grand prize home will be open Saturday to Wednesday, from 1 to 5 p.m.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com