The La Broquerie Hotel was packed to the rafters on the last Thursday of May, the kind of crowd that has become routine in this small southeastern Manitoba community. Volunteers ripped ticket after ticket from rolls of paper as the crowd watched. On the line that night: a jackpot of $249,070. When the winning ticket was drawn and the holder stepped forward to select a card from the remaining eight face-down on the table, the room held its breath. The card flipped: not the ace of spades. The crowd erupted — not in disappointment, but in cheers. The jackpot would grow again, to $274,070, and the fundraiser would return on September 10 with a one-in-seven chance for the next ticket winner to take it all home.
What began as a modest fundraiser for a newly formed food bank has become a weekly phenomenon in southeastern Manitoba, drawing crowds from surrounding communities and turning Thursday nights at the La Broquerie Hotel into a community ritual. The current series of Chase the Ace began in March 2025, and more than a year later, the ace of spades remains stubbornly hidden in a deck that has been whittled down to just seven cards.
The story of the fundraiser is inseparable from the story of La Broquerie Helping Hands itself. The organization was established to address food insecurity in the community, and it has grown to serve many families. The need was clear, but so was the challenge of funding a new non-profit. It was in this context that Chase the Ace was born — a simple raffle format in which participants buy $1 tickets for a chance to have their name drawn and select a card from a 54-card deck that includes two jokers. If the ticket holder draws the ace of spades, they win the entire accumulated jackpot. If they draw any other card, they take home a consolation prize of 10 percent of that evening's ticket sales, and the jackpot rolls over to the next week.
For months, the fundraiser chugged along quietly, with modest crowds and a slowly growing pot. Then, the jackpot began to climb more quickly, and the event started to draw larger crowds. The jackpot grew steadily, and by May the event was selling out its maximum of 50,000 tickets each week, with lines stretching out the door before ticket sales began at 5:30 p.m. The growth brought its own challenges. Volunteers face the painstaking task of handling 50,000 tickets each week. The event has also developed its own culture, with regulars returning each week and the room often erupting in cheers when the ace isn't drawn, because every non-ace card means the jackpot grows larger.
The stakes have become genuinely life-changing. On May 14, when the deck was down to its final 10 cards, more than 500 people packed the hotel. The line stretched out the door, and all 50,000 tickets were sold before the 7:30 p.m. cutoff. That night, Lucille Bisson's ticket was drawn, and she selected the joker — a rare and thrilling outcome that earned her 20 percent of the evening's ticket sales, a $10,000 consolation prize. "It is still a good amount to go home with and this is for a super cause," Bisson said. The following week, Tanya Smith's ticket was drawn, but she selected the nine of diamonds, taking home $5,000. "It's definitely a great honour to be able to be a part of this. The money is going towards amazing efforts to help others," she said.
For La Broquerie Helping Hands, the influx of funds has been transformative. The organization receives about 37 to 40 percent of everything raised, and the money is already being put to work. Gromniski said the first round of funding has been released, allowing the organization to purchase groceries — bread, milk, non-perishables and perishables — to fill gaps in donations and ensure that families receive three to four meals per week in their hampers. The funds have also helped revive a school lunch program that had been discontinued.
The decision to pause for the summer was a deliberate one. "It takes a lot of volunteers to actually put this on," Gromniski said. "We see a couple hundred people come through here and it's not just sitting here at the event day of." The preparation before each draw is significant, and the volunteers — many of whom have been running the event weekly for over a year — deserve a break. "We want to enjoy some summer and do some golfing and spend time with our families, so we're going to take a pause for the summer, just like we did last year."
When the fundraiser returns on September 10, the jackpot will be $274,070, and the deck will be down to just seven cards. The odds of drawing the ace of spades will be one in seven — the best odds the series has ever offered.
As Gauthier put it, "Just to see not only our community come out to support us, but surrounding communities, it means the world." The ace of spades has survived more than a year of draws, but its days are numbered. When it finally falls, someone will walk away with a life-changing sum — and a small-town food bank will have the resources to keep feeding its neighbours for years to come.