Hinckley resident wins grand prize in “Home for the Holidays’’ raffle

by Erica Peterson 

Deborah Rascan had been meaning to buy a ticket for the “Home for the Holidays” contest, but she kept forgetting. 

Then, a day before the Dec. 31 drawing, she saw a scroll on WEWS-TV5 about the raffle to win a new house, valued at $495,000, sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Greater Cleveland, The Make-A-Wish Foundation and TV5. 

“So, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to call now and buy one,”’ said Rascan.  

A few hours later, she decided she should buy two more tickets, just in case.  

It turned out to be a good decision, because on Jan. 1, she received an email telling her she had won the grand prize. 

“Never in a million years would I have thought I would win,” she said.  

Rascan was so sure she didn’t win, she didn’t open the email right away.  

“When I saw it on my phone, I thought they were just emailing to say, ‘Thanks for supporting us, we appreciate it,’ or whatever,” she said. 

Later that evening, she finally opened the email. 

“It was surreal,” Rascan said. “I had to read it a few times, and I still couldn’t believe it.” 

She didn’t tell anyone until she spoke on the phone with Brenda Callaghan, executive director of the HBA, who confirmed that Rascan won the grand prize.  

“I wasn’t going to say a word until I was sure this was actually happening,” she said. 

She had to file paperwork by a deadline to claim the prize. Not trusting the mail service, she drove it to Independence.  

Rascan chose the cash option, the reason she entered in the first place. She came to Hinckley six years ago, moving in with her mother, Barbara Rascan, after Barbara fractured a hip and needed medical care after rehab.  

Rascan, 60, works from home for the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System, so she can continue to help her mother. Barbara, 90, has dementia and is under home hospice care. 

The prize money will go toward her mother’s medical bills and for her continued care, as well as some much-needed repairs around the home, Rascan said.  

“That was a dream come true,” she said of the prize. “I was really lucky.” 

She does hope to get something for herself, a Smart TV. 

“It would be nice to be able to watch the Browns on it,” she said.  

This year’s ‘Home for the Holidays’ campaign raised $677,750, and 100 percent of the net proceeds benefitted the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Make-A-Wish chapter and the HBA’s Charitable and Education Foundation.

Feature image photo caption: Deborah Rascan