Lotto Winners give money away

Corsendonk · 05-11-2010 04:06PM #1

Are they mad or got life sorted?

BBC News

A Canadian couple who won $10.9m (£6.7m) in lottery winnings in July say they have given away $10.2m of the prize to groups in their community.

Allen and Violet Large said they were plain country folks who needed no more than "what we've got".

The two said they had donated about 98% of the cash after helping their family.

The elderly pair gave the money to churches, fire departments, cemeteries, the Red Cross and hospitals, where Ms Large has undergone cancer treatment.

"We haven't bought one thing. That's because there is nothing that we need," Mr Large, 75, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Mr Large, a retired welder from Canada's Nova Scotia province, added that he and his wife were quite content with their 147-year-old home and everything else they already owned.

"You can't buy happiness," he said

Biggins · 05-11-2010 04:07PM

Fair play to them.

Sauve · 05-11-2010 04:08PM

Fair play is right.....I hope I'm that wise someday

J. Marston · 05-11-2010 04:08PM

Mentalists.

Snakeblood · 05-11-2010 04:08PM

Corsendonk wrote: »

Are they mad or got life sorted?

BBC News

WHY BUY THE TICKET?!

Sigh.

ottostreet · 05-11-2010 04:09PM

id have kept a million

Biggins · 05-11-2010 04:09PM

Sauvignon82 wrote: »

....I hope I'm that wise someday

Your half way there already if you recognise their wisdom.

Cathmandooo · 05-11-2010 04:09PM

That's amazing!

Snakeblood wrote: »

WHY BUY THE TICKET?!

Sigh.

Because they got to sort out their family, and give to good causes close to their hearts

prinz · 05-11-2010 04:10PM

I wonder if they have any kids? :pac: ... they probably wouldn't be too happy.

Either way, sound move. I have a lot of respect. I bet they are happier with their lot than a lot of millionaires.

Duggy747 · 05-11-2010 04:10PM

What!?! Selflessness!?! Helping others?

*rubs eyes*

Something ain't right here!! That's an incredible thing for anyone to do, giving away their winnings like that.

Biggins · 05-11-2010 04:11PM

bennyx_o wrote: »

Fair play to them but why bother doing it if you don't want the money?!

Why do some people play the horses or play bingo when they know they don't stand much chance of becoming millionaires?

It passes the time and its possibly an interest.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 05-11-2010 04:11PM

Fair play to 'em (etc) but if they didn't keep a little nest egg they're idiots IMO.

Snakeblood · 05-11-2010 04:11PM

Cathmandooo wrote: »

That's amazing!

Because they got to sort out their family, and give to good causes close to their hearts

Well, if you're going to bring common decency into it.

jackiebaron · 05-11-2010 04:12PM

Allen and Violet Large give away their lotto winnings.

That was big of them :P

fonecrusher1 · 05-11-2010 04:13PM

Who the hell do they think they are? :mad:

Duggy747 · 05-11-2010 04:13PM

Faith restored in humanity = 5%

ScumLord · 05-11-2010 04:14PM

It's they're choice but I wonder how well they've set them selves up for any future financial problems.

I suppose they've sent out enough good will that half the local area owes them one now and I'd guess the community would rally around them should anything happen.

If they like their lifestyle and the place where they live it would almost be more useful to be on good standing with everyone rather than have money which probably would alienate them from everyone around them.

gbee · 05-11-2010 04:15PM

Snakeblood wrote: »

WHY BUY THE TICKET?! Sigh.

Good question! However, given their response, they probably bought the ticket because some of the money would have gone to local amenities, just as ours does, so they were probably just supporting this aspect of it.

Biggins · 05-11-2010 04:15PM

jackiebaron wrote: »

Allen and Violet Large give away their lotto winnings.

That was big of them :P

I was going to belittle that pun but I though better of it.

prinz · 05-11-2010 04:16PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I suppose they've sent out enough good will that half the local area owes them one now and I'd guess the community would rally around them should anything happen. If they like their lifestyle and the place where they live it would almost be more useful to be on good standing with everyone rather than have money which probably would alienate them from everyone around them.

+1. Some people don't seem to have learned anything from 'It's A Wonderful Life'...

marxcoo · 05-11-2010 04:16PM

That's sound of them. I suppose if they feel that they aren't wanting for anything, then there's no point in going around flashing cash. No point in letting the grandkids feel like they are entitled to money for nothing.

Nozebleed · 05-11-2010 04:16PM

gimps

AntiRip · 05-11-2010 04:17PM

From I read of the article they're an elderly couple (75) that kept $700,000 for themselves and gave the majority of it away to the must needy in society. I'm sure giving it away like that made them feel pretty great and they still have more than enough for the rest of their lives.

Biggins · 05-11-2010 04:17PM

Nozebleed wrote: »

gimps

Nice. :rolleyes:

Duggy747 · 05-11-2010 04:21PM

AntiRip wrote: »

From I read of the article they're an elderly couple (75) that kept $700,000 for themselves and gave the majority of it away to the must needy in society. I'm sure giving it away like that made them feel pretty great and they still have more than enough for the rest of their lives.

Shìt, I'd be pretty happy if I won $700,000!!

Finally, after a week of fùckin' misery with non-stop rain, non-stop threads on government doom & gloom, pointless religious debates, and getting a thumbtack stuck in the sole of my boot this morning, it's nice to read some good news every once in a while!

Funny, I imagine if they spent their money on fast cars, boats and luxury houses people would be saying: "FFS!! They're old, they don't need that money!!"

zeusnero · 05-11-2010 04:24PM

fair fúcks to them - great to see that kind of generosity these days

Kintarō Hattori · 05-11-2010 04:25PM

I saw that earlier today and thought it was brilliant. What a really amazing couple.

ROCKMAN · 05-11-2010 04:38PM

Sorry but they muppets ,As someone asked ,why buy a ticket ??????
If you are going to do this .....

Ok I would/could understand giving it to family but CEMETERIES :eek::eek:

MUPPETS......

MazG · 05-11-2010 04:42PM

Heh heh - some of the posts here just prove that there is no issue/topic in the world that everyone would agree on.

The reason for the existence of boards.ie, I guess!

123balltv · 05-11-2010 04:48PM

thats nice of them

they'll definitely get a place in heaven
If I won the lotto I'd ........

look after myself buy a house, flash car, luxuries etc

take care of my family let them live comfortably no stress

then I'd give the rest to charity especially anything to with cancer or hospices centres.

Calibos · 05-11-2010 05:05PM

Its unclear whether they gave 98% of the remainder after looking after their family or 98% of the total, keeping 2% to look after the family. Then again it says they kept 700,000 which is more than 2%

I love my parents but if they did that I don't know whether I would be able to talk to them for a while, "Ye bat**** crazy oul...."

Look, I can totally understand the likes of Bill Gates not wanting to create a multi century Gates dynasty where all his decendents might end up lazy wasters still living off the mega billions he made centuries before and thus he is giving it all away bar 10 million dollars for each of his kids. However I cannot understand parents giving away financial security for their offspring. If they had 4 kids thats just over 2 million each. Thats not 'ruining' your kids with money, thats just setting them up without money worries for life. I'd have said fairplay maybe if they kept half and gave away half. This isn't about no prospect of Ferrari's or McMansions for the family, this is about financial security. Given the cost of Healthcare in the US, that 700,000 they kept won't last long if the mother gets cancer again or the daughter gets a brain tumour etc etc

All those saying fairplay at giving away 98% or 6 million whichever the case may be, just want to appear 'right on'. What they did was insane and there is no two ways about it.

Lotto Winners give money away

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