There are loads of ways that people like to gamble. A lot of the time, people choose to gamble by buying a lottery ticket. However, there are other ways that you can gamble. For example, visiting casinos or even using a mobile casino can be lucrative but there’s more than one way to gamble. Playing the lottery, however, is a more risk-free way which many people now do as a matter of course. The lottery has the ability to create huge wins for normal people. You don’t always see winnings being put to good use but every now and again you come across a heart-warming story of a winner using their new found riches for good. Here are some of our favourite stories.
Paul and Sue Rosenau
Paul and Sue Rosenau won 181 million dollars in 2008 by playing the Powerball lottery. Most people would see that as an opportunity to purchase their dream home, dream car, or take their dream holiday but the Rosenaus saw a different opportunity altogether. Unfortunately, their granddaughter had passed away five years earlier from a degenerative disease. The disease is called Krabbe Disease and because it only affects one in one hundred thousand children, it is not given the attention or funding that it deserves. Amazingly, Paul and Sue used their winnings to create The Legacy of Angels Charity to raise awareness of the disease, in order to raise funds as well as their own to put towards research into treatments, and hopefully a cure.
Les Robins
You’re probably used to hearing older generations harking back to their childhoods, professing about how much more wholesome they were than yours, but Les Robins took it one step further when he won one hundred and eleven million dollars on the Powerball lottery. Les has first-hand experience of the kinds of lifestyles children lead now as a high school teacher, and he believed that children should have a more adventurous childhood. So, when he received his winnings, instead of spending them on himself he used them to create a 226-acre camp for children. Here, they could enjoy the outdoors and take part in lots of different fun activities such as horse riding and swimming in the lake.
Pearlie Mae Smith
It was easy to see what Pearlie Mae Smith was going to do with her four hundred and twenty-nine-million-dollar win. Pearlie and her family where always big believers in helping out the community; taking part in community garden projects and helping out in soup kitchens regularly. So, when she won the Powerball lottery jackpot it was clear that she was going to use it for good. She started the Smith Family Foundation which provided funding for grassroots organisations based on improving the lives of others. They focused on things like education, neighbourhood development and supporting struggling families. Pearlie’s daughter also put a portion of the winnings towards the programme she previously ran which mentored women in need.
These three winners are perfect examples of how to spend to spend lottery winnings. It can be tempting to waste them on luxury items, and it’s fair to use a small amount on that but the reward you would feel from making a real difference to the lives of others who are struggling, far outweighs that of material gain.
This is a collaborative post.