When Bill Hughes found out he won a house Wednesday, he shouted so loud that his wife, Nancy, thought something was wrong. 

“I thought, 'Oh my God, there’s probably some animal in our yard,'” she said. 

No crazed critter. 

Something much better.

The Hugheses won North Idaho College's Really BIG Raffle grand prize; a brand-new home in the North Place neighborhood in Post Falls that they toured Friday. 

NIC's 33rd annual house drawing featured over $600,000 in prizes. Diana Miller of Kootenai won a 2026 Subaru Forester; Brian D’Aoust of Clark Fork won a $2,000 home furnishings gift card and Rebecca Flamand of Coolin won a $1,500 Schweitzer gift card. 

Proceeds go to the NIC Foundation and its mission to “enhance student success and educational excellence throughout North Idaho College.” 

Supporting NIC was the reason Bill Hughes bought one raffle ticket. All 5,000 tickets, at $150 each, were purchased by June 17.

“We think it’s a great college,” Bill said. “I think if I am going to gamble, I might as well gamble and help them out.”

The Hugheses plan on selling their new home, which appraised at $575,000, and using the money to fund a vacation to France, a Hawaiian cruise and to pay off the mortgage on their current home. 

“Nancy has always wanted to go to the (French) Open,” said Bill. “We’ve been thinking about going anyway, but now it just makes it a lot easier.” 

The raffle was sponsored by Greenstone Homes, Washington Trust Bank, Fennemore, Parker Subaru, LX Hausys and Ponderosa Building Supply.  

“The continued success of the Really Big Raffle is a reflection of generous individuals investing in the dreams of students,” said North Idaho College Foundation Executive Director Rayelle Anderson in a press release. “We are truly grateful to every ticket buyer, sponsor, volunteer and ticket outlet for their unwavering support.”