An anonymous Pennsylvania Lottery player recently deposited a winning instant ticket worth $1,000 into a Salvation Army red kettle, according to Fox 61. The winning ticket was for the Fantastic 10s instant game and was dropped into a Salvation Army kettle at a Walmart in Erie last week.
“The Christmas season often brings out the best in people,” said Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko. “It’s heartwarming to hear stories such as this one, and I applaud this anonymous winner for turning their good fortune into an act of charity that will benefit the community.”
Lets be clear: one thousand dollars isn’t going to reignite America’s inner cities or drag Curt Schilling out of debt or even catch me up on the rent I owe my landlord. It sure ain’t the $1.5 billion donation given to the Salvation Army back in 2004 by the estate of Joan B. Kroc, a widow of the founder of McDonald’s Corp.
But what makes this donation so special is that only people who need the money buy scratch tickets. Typically blue collar workers who drink black coffee and smoke Marlboro Reds. Rich people buying scratch tickets can most aptly be summed up by one image:
Not to mention, anyone who has won on a scratch ticket feels knows that the universe conspired for them to have that money. It’s like an allowance from God that somehow we justify that we earned. Giving it away is like giving away a kidney or your high school letterman jacket. Add in the fact that the donation was outside of a Walmart, which isn’t exactly Barney’s, and this may be the most honorable donation the world has ever seen.
This is coming off the heels of me drunkenly leaving my backpack containing my laptop and $300 Bose headphones in the back of a cab on Thursday and it never being returned, despite me calling the cab company and the city’s lost and found. This feel good story is a reminder that the world needs balance. And unfortunately for me, the world mushroom stamped my face and never called me back.
[h/t Fox 61]