MOOSE JAW — Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) is celebrating 40 years of life-saving missions — and Moose Jaw residents have a chance to support the cause and win big.
The 2025 STARS Lottery is officially underway, offering Saskatchewan’s biggest charitable prize pool to date, including more than $4 million in prizes, two dream homes, luxury vehicles, vacations, and a record-setting 50/50 jackpot that could top $2.5 million.
Perhaps the biggest reward is knowing help is available when it matters most.
STARS has flown more than 60,000 missions since its inception, including over 1,000 last year in Saskatchewan alone. In many cases, those calls brought advanced critical care directly to patients in and around Moose Jaw — patients like Tyler Lister.
After Lister’s health suddenly deteriorated at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital in Moose Jaw, STARS was dispatched to transport him to Regina General Hospital for urgent, specialized care.
“If it wasn’t for STARS, he probably wouldn’t be here today,” said his mother, Lisa Clements, in an earlier interview. “I’m 100 per cent sure of that.”
This year’s STARS Lottery aims to raise the funds needed to keep those missions flying. Each ticket purchase helps pay for the expert crews, advanced training, and specialized equipment that make these emergency responses possible.
In addition to the Lucky Stars 50/50 draw — where last year’s winner took home $1,034,165 — supporters can enter to win one of 40 daily $10,000 cash prizes, a Porsche bonus prize, early bird packages, or a range of other high-value rewards.
As STARS crew members are quick to note, the real prize is knowing that these flights give patients a second chance at life.
“Without the supporters, you don’t have that video laryngoscope, you don’t have the ultrasound, you don’t have the ventilator, and you don’t have the fuel to get there,” said STARS flight paramedic Glen Pilon, reflecting on one of the organization’s most harrowing rescue missions involving a teenage lawnmower accident survivor, then 16-year-old Draidyn Wollmann.
“Join us in celebrating 40 years of saving the lives of people in need, no matter who, no matter where, with our best-ever STARS lottery,” an official release stated.
Tickets start at $60, with bundle options available. The deadline to enter is Aug. 8, and the main draw will be held Aug. 20.
To purchase tickets or learn more, visit SK.StarsLottery.ca.
