Hansen: Odds of helping a life are good

There are many ways to change your life — move to the beach, get married, get divorced — but a fun way is to buy a raffle ticket for a million-dollar home.

The Ocean Institute’s Laguna Beach Million Dollar Home Raffle is now in its 12th year, and the early-bird ticket deadline is Aug. 18. For details visit ocean-institute.org/homeraffle.

Because a maximum of 20,000 tickets are sold, each of the $150 tickets has a pretty good chance of winning — or at least the odds are better than any lottery.

Plus, if you buy more than one ticket, the odds shoot up because you get entered into multiple drawings. Also, more prizes are being given out this year than ever, increasing your odds of winning something.

Just ask last year’s winners, husband and wife team Todd and Michele Hawkins of San Clemente.

“We’ve done it the last eight years,” Todd said. “We refer one another so it makes you eligible for all the potential prizes.”

The strategy paid off last year when they took home the grand prize in cash.

“It was a good day, let me tell you,” he said. “I woke up that day — I think it was Nov. 16 — and I even drove to the Ocean Institute about 8 in the morning because I couldn’t remember when the drawing was.”

It wasn’t until 1 p.m.

“I just walked around telling myself, today is our day. And I’m telling you it was,” he said.

He said that when they heard their name, it was surreal.

“At first you don’t believe it, but it really was true and it was very exciting. It was very cool,” he said. “We’ve had our kids go through the various programs at Ocean Institute through elementary school, so we’ve been around it for a long time.”

The beauty of this particular raffle — and one of the reasons it’s so popular — is that the proceeds benefit the Ocean Institute programs in Dana Point.

“We’re trying to help the public realize that they are supporting our mission, which is that by using the ocean as our classroom, we are inspiring children to learn,” said Doug Abramson, vice president of operations.

“The ticket sales benefit our children’s education programs. We have state-accredited education programs, so schools send their kids to us to teach marine science and maritime history and ecology. When kids are inspired, everyone really wins.”

Abramson said the raffle funds $1 out of every $8 for the institute. About 50% of all tickets are sold in Southern California, but only two people here have won the grand prize.

If you purchase a ticket by Aug. 18, you will have the chance to win additional prizes, such as exotic vacations or automobiles. Winning tickets drawn during the early rounds will be placed back into the mix for the Nov. 5 grand prize drawing of a Laguna Beach home or $1 million in cash, Abramson said.

“Our suite of prizes include trips to Jamaica, trips to Lake Louise to Australia, New Zealand,” he said. “We’ve got cars that you can win. So we have a substantial list of prizes you can win beyond the grand prize.”

For the Hawkinses, winning the money was a chance for them to provide some breathing room for their family. Unlike winners who might go big, they went small.

“We used part of the money to actually downsize,” Todd said. “So we sold our home, and we bought a smaller home. We’re in our 50s and thinking about retirement someday.

“I must admit, though, for a minute I thought, you know what, I could buy a bigger house now. But instead, we went the other direction and paid off any debt and lowered our overhead, so it was very helpful.”

The money also helped get one of their sons off to college. A a younger one is right behind.

“We’re just trying to be very cautious and wise with it,” he said. “We didn’t go buy a fancy car, didn’t do any of that.”

So are the couple going to try again this year?

“Oh yeah, absolutely, see if we can do it back to back, why not?” Todd said. “It’s an exciting time and it’s a fun day. They do a great job, and all the money goes to a great cause. We’re looking forward to doing it again.”

Abramson said it’s nice to hear stories of local winners who are able to benefit from the raffle.

“We’re changing the lives of not just the winners, but the lives of these kids and the families of these education programs,” he said. “That’s what a ticket is buying.”

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DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com.