WILTON – When Jerry Forgues bought a raffle ticket for an ATV utility trailer to benefit the SeniorsPlus Community Center, it was nothing unusual. He buys tickets for dozens of raffles each year.

“I figure if I don’t win anything, it’s still going to a good cause,” he said.

Forgues even has a system for keeping track of his ticket receipts, anticipating the possibility of a win. He keeps the tickets receipts in order of the date of the drawing, and throws them out periodically when nothing comes of it, and mostly nothing does, he said.

But ticket 01579 was different. That’s the ticket that won Forgues a $700 ATV utility trailer donated by United Sports in Forgues’ home town of Turner for a raffle to benefit programs at the senior center in Wilton.

Forgues has won things before, but this was the biggest prize he ever took home. He was pretty happy when he picked it up Tuesday at SeniorsPlus. Impressed with the trailer’s features, he said he could not have afforded it if he hadn’t won it.

Forgues said he will use his new trailer for fun, hunting and chores around the yard. A member of the Turner Timberland ATV Club, he will also use the trailer to help the club maintain trails.

More importantly, Forgues will use the trailer as a volunteer with the Turner Fire Department. He plans to fit it out with a portable tank to help fight forest fires should the occasion arise.

“How could we have found a better guy to win the raffle?” asked Sandy Gregor, SeniorsPlus Community Center coordinator.

Forgues said he had a feeling the day of the drawing that he was going to win. When he got home and saw the answering machine blinking, he just knew it was a call for him from SeniorsPlus.

“Jerry seems like just the right guy to take the prize home,” Gregor said. “It’s nice to know that this great trailer is going to someone who supports a lot of good causes.”