Forrest General Healthcare Foundation Win This Car! Fundraiser Won by Ovett Resident

Katherine “Peggy” Cole of Ovett was moved to tears when she walked into the car dealership and saw the 2026 Toyota Grand Highlander Platinum she won in this year’s Forrest General Healthcare Foundation Win This Car! raffle. Cole’s name was drawn during a live broadcast on WDAM’s 6 pm news September 3.

Foundation board chairman, Lou Mapp, drew the winning entry as a small group of ticket holders waited anxiously in the showroom to hear if they held the winning ticket. As soon as WDAM’s live broadcast of the announcement went off the air, Foundation Executive Director Martha Dearman called Peggy, who answered almost immediately.

She was sitting by her TV when her name was called. Her daughter, Peggy Sue Jones, was with her and immediately started jumping up and down and crying. From then until bedtime Peggy said her phone was busy with congratulatory calls from family and friends. “My phone was down to 25 percent by the time I went to bed,” she laughed.

Peggy said she received a brochure in the mail about the raffle, like many other Pine Belt residents, and said the Lord told her she needed to buy a ticket. From that moment on, she knew the car would be hers.

Even though ticket sales began June 3, it was not until sometime in July that Peggy mailed her entry in and eagerly waited for her “winning” ticket to be mailed back to her, receiving it back in the mail a week or so later.  

After spending a week at her sister’s home in Alabama, Cole came home looking for the ticket she’d put up for safe keeping, saying, “I’ve got to have that ticket, because you know I’m going to win that car. The Lord just keeps telling me I’ve got to get my ticket. They are going to draw for ‘my’ car. That’s going to be my car.” 

She even told her daughters she was going to win the car. “I said, ‘I’m going to win that car, because the Lord told me I needed it.’ I told Him, if I don’t win it, I won’t be disappointed, but if You want me to have it, you’ll give it to me,” she said.

She owned it from the very beginning.

On Friday morning, Cole met Dearman and Toyota dealership officials to sign paperwork and take possession of her new vehicle. Peggy noted that the new vehicle was larger than the smaller sized SUV she was currently driving and had about worn out on the family farm. With children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great grandchildren, Peggy said it would “be a while” before she let anybody borrow it.

This year’s fundraiser, a sellout of all 2,500 tickets, raised $187,500 for the Foundation’s many worthwhile healthcare projects that help improve care throughout the Forrest system.

“Continuing to help fund projects which are meaningful to those who utilize the care of Forrest facilities, is always at the forefront of our giving,” said Dearman. “I feel incredibly humbled by the overwhelming generosity and continued support of our community and Forrest’s employees. We are passionate about our many initiatives, and we’re glad to see the Pine Belt community supporting them, as well.”

For more information about the Forrest General Healthcare Foundation, visit www.fghfoundation.com .