NC grandpa gives away part of lotto jackpot to teach grandsons a Thanksgiving lesson
A Union County man who won a lottery jackpot this week planned to buy turkeys with the proceeds and have his grandsons give them to families in need.
“Tonight, as soon as I get back, we’re gonna go to the grocery store, and we’re gonna buy Thanksgiving dinners,” William Bailey of Weddington told N.C. lottery officials after claiming his $167,849 Cash 5 prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Wednesday, according to a lottery news release.
“At least 10 or 20 turkeys, and we’re gonna put everything together in a box and we’re gonna find people to give them to that need it,” Bailey said. “I want my grandboys to do it because I want them to know what it feels like to help somebody.”
When they learned he’d won, Bailey said, he and his wife, Hazel, decided to spend part of the winnings on Thanksgiving dinners for others.
Weddington is about a half hour south of Charlotte.
Bailey bought the ticket on Sunday using Online Play on the lottery’s website, lottery officials said.
On Monday morning, he checked the winning numbers on the lottery website and recognized his own numbers. “I turned my computer around to my wife and showed her and she kind of looked and then she screamed,” Bailey said.
After taxes, he netted $118,755, according to the lottery.
“It feels really good knowing that we can help some people,” Bailey said. “Just to be here today is a blessing.”
Hazel Bailey said the couple will still have money from their winnings for Christmas and “helping family and church.”
The rest will go into savings and helping their grandchildren with college, she said.
Carolina Cash 5 tickets cost $1, with nightly drawings. Wednesday’s jackpot stood at $120,000.
The odds of winning a Cash 5 jackpot are 1 in 962,598, lottery spokeswoman Garcelle Vierra said after a Charlotte man won a Cash 5 jackpot last week.
Stanley Lawrence worried about how he’d pay for his children to attend college before hitting an $816,451 Cash 5 jackpot officials said, He bought his Quick Pick ticket for the Sept. 5 drawing and now “has no more worries,” according to a lottery news release.
