FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A Fort Lauderdale couple who were trying to raffle off their house but did not sell enough tickets instead drew on Thursday the name of the person who will share the cash proceeds with a charity.

In March, frustrated homeowners Miles and Laura Brannan could not sell their $2 million Fort Lauderdale home, so they decided to raffle it off at $10 per ticket. They hoped to sell 300,000 tickets, raffle the house off on Christmas Day and give the profits to a local charity.

But the couple sold less than 70,000 tickets, not nearly enough for them to raffle off their house. Instead, they went to their contingency plan: They would raffle off half the proceeds and give the other half to the Mission of St. Francis.

The Brannans held the drawing on Thursday. Bernard Gross of Foster City, Calif., was named the winner of about $300,000. Gross is a 67-year-old retiree who was looking for a job because his investments had fallen with the economy, Local 10's Neki Mohan reported. He said he hopes to use his winnings to help his brother and himself.

The Mission of St. Francis is happy to receive the other half of the cash.

"We've been here for 40 years and this has been the greatest end-of-the-year gift that the mission has ever received," said Jack Labarga of the Mission of St. Francis. "The money's going to do a lot of reconstruction over here and also to scholarship funds and to feed the many that we continue to feed on a regular basis."

The Brannans are still trying to sell their six-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot house, which is listed at more than $2 million. The family still lives at the home, which remains on the market and is not in foreclosure.