Lottery Winner Gives Away Money [News]

First up a warning: if somone has contacted you via social media, text message or email saying they are giving away their winnings, be very, very wary. Because it’s probably a scam.

Some winners have genuinely given away their money, but they gave it to charities or family/friends etc. Read on to enjoy their stories instead.

Frances Connolly: Addicted to Helping Others After £115 Million Win

Frances Connolly, 55, won a staggering £115m in the EuroMillions in 2019. Since then, she’s given away over half her fortune and admits she’s “addicted” to helping others.

Frances and her husband Patrick, from Hartlepool, set a yearly charity budget. But Frances has already spent right through to 2032. 🙂

Winning the lottery didn’t change Frances. She immediately shared her wealth with friends and family. “Helping others gives you a buzz and it’s addictive,” she said.

A former social worker and teacher, Frances founded two charitable foundations. One honors her late mother in Northern Ireland. The other, the PFC Trust, supports young carers, the elderly, and refugees in Hartlepool.

Frances estimates she has given away £60 million but doesn’t keep track. She jokes about hiding the total from her husband.

Her charitable spirit isn’t new. Frances volunteered with St John Ambulance as a child and set up an AIDS helpline while a student in Belfast.

Now, she backs local groups that help people find jobs, support refugees and young carers, and provide tablets for the elderly to connect with their families.

Despite their wealth, the Connollys keep their personal spending modest. Their biggest splurge was a six-bedroom house in County Durham. Patrick drives a second-hand Aston Martin.

Frances is critical of luxury spending. Hearing about someone spending £25,000 on champagne, she thought of how the money could help someone buy a house.

Frances and Patrick moved from Moira, County Down, to Hartlepool 30 years ago. Frances continues her lifelong habit of giving. “I’d have been a millionaire anyway if I took back all the money I’ve given away over the years,” she said.

Winning the lottery changed their lives but not their personalities. “If you’re stupid before you get it, you’re going to be stupid afterwards,” Frances quipped.

Her advice to future winners? “Money liberates you to be the person that you want to be.”

Peter Charleton Wins $896,511.13 Gives Most of It Away

Peter Charleton, 47, from Yarra Ranges in Victoria was driving along for over an hour before he realized he’d left something on his car. It was his late uncle’s favourite pocket knife. So he was massively relieved to find it was still there!

That stroke of luck prompted him to buy some lottery tickets.

A few days later he checked them with the lotto app on this phone. But it gave him a message he’d never seen before so he decided the app must be broken.

[The message said something about being a big winner, LOL :-)]

Watch the interview with Peter here and find out why this winner gave his money away:-

Have you ever left anything on top of your car and driven off?

I know I have. 🙂

I’ve also parked in a main public car park, left my keys in the car and walked away. And only realized hours later when I couldn’t find my car keys. They were still there, safely in the car. 😉

So Peter deleted the app and installed it again. If in doubt, turn it off and on again, right?

But that winners message wasn’t going away.

And down at the bottom in tiny writing was a number:-

“It was quite a large number – it looked like a phone number…”

And 17 days later Peter’s bank balance also looked like a phone number. $896,511.13 🙂

But you’ll never guess what happened next…

Peter just gave it away.

“I don’t feel comfortable keeping all this money to myself. And so I didn’t.”

Instead he gave all his family enough to get by a bit easier. Then he contacted friends he knew were finding things a bit tough. Then just moved on to total strangers in supermarkets and cafes.

“I felt more comfortable knowing that I’d given it all away and done a few things for myself.”

“We’ve got to look after each other, where and when we can. Do what you can to make somebody elses day a bit brighter.”

He’s a wise man is Peter.

Could you give away your lottery winnings? Even half of them..? And what would you do with the rest?