Lottery Winner Chooses Giving

How does the spirit of giving impact you most this holiday season ?

“Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.”( Eric Fromm)

Jake Carter, a 42 year old bartender and business manager from suburban Ocala, Florida began his duties at his friendly gathering establishment on Thanksgiving afternoon thinking of how “down” he felt to be celebrating this holiday alone for the first time. For he seemed filled with guilt knowing his habitual neglect of family responsibilities had likely been the main cause of his recent divorce finalized over the past summer. Perhaps his passion for watching NFL football along with his steady customers would ease his inner pain as the Miami Dolphins game that he wanted to watch would be broadcast on TV that afternoon. More important to him then was the Dolphin season had not been going so well lately, so he deeply felt it was “due time” that some second and third string players should finally get in for some game action. With some regret then, Gina Tallone, his reliable bar mate and recent girlfriend now informed  him that six rookies players he liked continued to be listed as inactive for today’s game. 

Know then that by chance, Jake asked Gina to write down these rested player numbers – 35, 22, 17, 68, 5, and 58  to a bar patron playing weekly fantasy football. This gesture to share this six digit set thus ignited in her a way to help Jake ease his troubled mind. So she suggested he buy a “Mega Millions” lottery ticket now with that identical combination to honor the potential talent of these six poorly recognized players. So while Gina watched  over the bar, Jake walked  over to the convenience store one block away and eagerly complied.

Consequently as Jake dressed for work the next morning watching the local news on TV, he suddenly recognized with astonishment that he’d cashed in fully on his lottery ticket. For with all six numbers he’d selected as the winning ticket combo, he’d be paid the grand prize of roughly one thousand dollars a day in the next twenty years. Now heading gleefully to the bar at 11:30 am to announce his good fortune, he noticed a crowd of “groupie” like onlookers had gathered at the entrance to the bar. When the doors opened, many of these “walk in”patrons stormed in and began pressuring him to offer free drinks and food “on the house” as a fitting celebration for his newly acquired fame. However such demands of these fanatical strangers taking advantage of his “rock star” like fame seemed to be wrongly inappropriate to him at the time. It follows then as Jake politely declined to do what the crowd wanted at that moment, he’d silently promised to part from his habitually selfish ways.

In the coming weeks with Gina often at his side, Jake allotted plenty of time to figure out how he might best address his newly altruistic mindset. So when he finally received his first annuity installment payment, he’d come to realize more than ever the symbolic importance of those six undervalued rookie players who had entered his life at the right time in his life. In the short term, that meant honoring them indirectly by showcasing an underdog appreciation event one night each week at the bar offering free food, and donated gifts to any needy patrons to be funded by portions of his new earnings.             

When football season ended, Jake would also explore ways to diminish the expected trauma related to two of those rookie players who had suffered career ending concussion injuries that season. He’d thus set up for the future a personal endowment fund out of his lottery earnings called “Operation Underdog” to provide $100,000 financial assistance to each of them and their families as needed. Jake could also take satisfaction that he’d created considerable “buzz”  around the heavily populated “Villages” community nearby, which would in the future transform this bar into a community hub for charity event gatherings, victim recovery meetups and passionate populist rallies. 

Consider it then heartwarming to know that while Jake’s love of football and good luck set the stage for his miraculous success in this story, the real victory in his life happened when he embraced the idea that positive human connection really mattered.