$115 Million Lotto Winner Says Money Won't 'Make You Sensible' While Giving Half Of Winnings To Charity

Jul 14, 2022 by apost team

People play the lottery every day in hopes of winning a big cash prize. The chances of winning the lottery are nearly one in 300 million. One family who lives in Hartlepool in County Durham beat those large odds in 2019. That year Frances Connolly and her husband Patrick won the EuroMillions Jackpot. The couple won 115 million euros (just over $115 million) from the annual lottery. 

However, after winning the large sum of money, the couple did something that most winners would never even think of. They decided to give away mass amounts of their winnings. The couple decided they wanted to help people less fortunate than them, so they decided to give away nearly half of their large money sum. Frances, who is a retired social worker and school teacher has already set up two foundations from their winnings. One foundation is named after her own mother, Kathleen Graham, and the other foundation is called PFC Trust which supports young carers, the elderly and refugees. 

The family estimates they have given away over 60 million of their winnings and they don’t plan on stopping there. They admitted that during the worldwide pandemic, starting foundations and donating their money made them feel a lot better. The couple, who has three daughters, also admitted that they have no desire to purchase expensive luxury items such as a yacht since they get their joy in seeing others happy. The winning family doesn’t believe they need all of their large earnings in the first place, as they say they have everything they need.

While speaking to RTE Frances said: “People do ask, 'How did you cope with that amount of money?' I said, 'I never did. It wasn't in the bank two days.'" She went on to add, "It's still weird, but I've never actually had to come to terms with all that money because we had it for such a short amount of time."

The family believed that if you spent stupidly before coming into a large sum of money, you will carry those traits to when you do have a lot of money. "If you're stupid before you get it, you're going to be stupid afterwards,” Frances said. "Money's not going to make you sensible. Money liberates you to be the person that you want to be. If I had any advice for a winner, that's what I'd say,” the winner said. 

Frances believes that coming into money can show your true colors. "Think about what type of person you are and what type of person you want to be,” she said. 

The family has given away so much of their winnings that they said they have budgets for how to spend it. "This was just in January ... we do a budget every year, we check what we're spending. We're (already) on 2032's budget. We might have to revise that,” she added. 

She went on to question who needs such a large sum of money in the first place. "Oh, who needs all that money?” she asked. We look forward to seeing where else this generous family donates their money to!

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Would you give away a large part of your winnings if you won the lottery? We love to see such nice and kind people helping others. If you were inspired by this article make sure to send it to others too!