The Gorge Harbor Marina offered a raffle in February that awarded the winner a gift basket or a free cord of dry firewood - a central source of heat on the island. One of the winners is a young, local renter who believes she struck gold when she won the "wood draw."

Yaffa Ibrahim has been plotting to move to Cortes for about a decade. She landed a rental in Whaletown with a long-time local, which required them to replace any firewood used over the winter. Since the rental was primarily heated with wood, this was a sizeable requirement.

They estimated about a cord of wood was used over the winter to heat the modest sized home. A cord of wood is 128 cubic square feet, and it currently ranges in price from $250-$350, depending on whether the wood has been seasoned (dried). Due to frequent power outages in the winter time on Cortes Island, many islanders rely on wood to heat their homes.

Ibrahim says she feels blessed to have won the local firewood raffle.

“Even though the housing situation is short term, it was such a beautiful experience. And getting the wood, like winning the wood to replace it was also, just very serendipitous,” she said.

To hear more about just how lucky this wood raffle turned out to be, listen to the CKTZ News Update below: