Winning the lottery is so far-fetched that we can only dream about it happening or talk about it sarcastically. However, for one family in a small town in Missouri, the dream turned into an amazing reality because they won one of the most massive Powerball lotteries ever in US history. The family actually made headlines across the country not for the mind-blowing enormous amount of money which came their way but for what they decided to do with it. While many people would choose to spend their money on luxurious things, such as a sports car or a luxurious home, if they got the chance to have such a significant windfall, the choices that this family made seemed odd.
Family Wins Almost $300 Million Lottery Jackpot And Impacts Their
Whole Town
Typical Family From A Small Town In Missouri
Married couple Mark and Cindy Hill were in their 50s and living in Camden Point, a small town in Missouri when their lives completely changed. Three of their grown-up children had already moved out and had started their own families, while Mark and Cindy were bringing up their adopted daughter from China who was six years old at the time. Recently, however, their financial situation has gotten a little tighter compared to the past, and they struggled a bit more to make ends meet. In addition, Mark’s health condition worried his son, but never in the family’s wildest dreams did they imagine that a very big lottery win was just around the corner.
Typical Family From A Small Town In Missouri
Sole Supporter
Times were not easy for Mark, Cindy, and their daughter, Jaiden. Mark had a job at a factory that processed meat for deli goods and hot dogs and as of the moment, he had to be their household’s sole supporter since their income was not coming from two sources anymore. Cindy used to work as an office manager but in 2010, she was made redundant and since then, she’s been on the hunt for a job, without much success. To make matters worse, she wanted to spend more time at home so that she could be around for their young daughter, and opportunities didn’t seem to be looking up. As her expectations weren’t high, she decided to take a wild chance.
Sole Supporter
The National Powerball Lottery
The national Powerball lottery was announced to have reached a record high for its prize, a whopping $587 million. At that time, in November 2012, the lottery draw was the second highest ever to be declared and in a community like Camden Point, this kind of sum seemed pretty unreal. Even though this jackpot seemed absolutely unattainable, the lottery was anyone’s game wherever in the country they called home. The Hill family wasn’t really counting on anything huge, but the massive lottery jackpot which had been announced was just too tempting for Cindy and she thought she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
The National Powerball Lottery
Leaving It To Chance
Cindy Hill stopped by the local gas station and she purchased five tickets for the Powerball lottery for her family, which cost her $10 in total. A lot of people believe in lucky numbers and make decisions based on their own superstitions, but she didn’t do the same thing and instead relied on the computer to choose for her. She just took whatever the lottery ticket generator offered her and left it completely to chance, not involving any personal preferences or any guesses.
Leaving It To Chance
Didn’t Pay Much Attention
Cindy Hill didn’t really pay much mind to the lottery tickets and she even left them inside her car overnight after she purchased them. When six-year-old Jaiden asked her mom Cindy about the tickets, the little girl got a gentle reality check from her mother, who told her that practically no one ever wins those things. That must have been how things seemed for Cindy but she had no idea just how ironic her words were about to be. In hindsight, she should not have just haphazardly thrown the tickets inside the car where someone could have easily snatched them and she now wonders whatever made her decide to do it.
Didn’t Pay Much Attention
An Ordinary Day
The next day started out like any other, with Cindy taking her six-year-old to school, and there was nothing out of the ordinary as they were just going about their family’s usual routine. However, Cindy heard something which ignited a flicker of curiosity – a winning ticket for Powerball lottery had been sold in Missouri, their state. Intrigued, yet not bearing any high expectations, she drove to a convenience store as she was curious to see the numbers which had been announced. She only spent $10 for the tickets, so it wouldn’t really be a massive letdown if she didn’t win the lottery.
An Ordinary Day
An Unbelievable Revelation
At the time, Cindy Hill didn’t have any way of knowing it but as she took her first steps into the shop, she was actually leaving behind one chapter of her life and entering a new one. She saw on the screen in the convenience store something that made her feel absolutely mystified – they were reporting numbers that perfectly matched those that were found in one of her lottery tickets. It would seem that out of all the thousands, if not millions, who had bought Powerball lottery tickets nationwide, one lucky woman from a small Missouri town had purchased the winning ticket! However, what was about to go down would be way more remarkable.
An Unbelievable Revelation
Complete Disbelief
Hilariously enough, the first reaction Cindy had was total suspicion since she thought that the coincidence — the numbers showed on the screen matching the numbers on her lottery ticket must have been inaccurate. Her heart racing, Cindy took out her phone and called her husband and mother-in-law so that they could verify it because she was sure there was something wrong with her eyes and she wasn’t seeing things clearly. Instead of accepting the news right away, she was full of skepticism but she was also excited and even though she was going to have a heart attack. In the end, everyone found out that there was nothing wrong with Cindy’s eyes and apparently, there were others who would be collecting big.
Complete Disbelief
Other Beneficiaries
At the convenience store, the front clerks were over the moon with excitement for Cindy and they were all smiles since one of the draw’s conditions was that the store which sold the winning ticket would also receive $50,000. They proudly showed off the receipts proving that they were also beneficiaries of this amazing lottery draw. All of a sudden, the Hills, a family from a small town who had struggles making ends meet, were about to have almost $300 million, about half of the lottery prize, but they instantly knew they needed to proceed with great caution. The Hills needed to tread carefully because an estimated 70% of lottery winners become bankrupt within only a few years from the time a large financial windfall comes to them, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education.
Other Beneficiaries
Managing New Realities
Even though such a colossal sum of money coming their way happened by chance, managing it required much deliberate thought and skill. The amount of publicity that was coming their way was highly likely going to bring along some people who wish the Hills ill. In addition, there might be that random person who would want to take advantage of them and the massive newfound wealth that their family had acquired, which would make things difficult for the Hills. Last but definitely not the least, the Hill family needed to think carefully regarding what they would do with all the money — and what kind of influence they would allow it to have on them as people.
Managing New Realities
Simple Wishes
Naturally, having such an enormous sum of cash unexpectedly land in their laps gave the Hill family an opportunity to let their imagination run wild but at first, all they had were simple wishes, such as their cute little girl wanting to get a pony. In addition, since working traditionally wouldn’t need to be their priority, they now had time to travel. Being of Irish heritage, they hoped to see what Ireland looks like as it is their ancestral homeland and also, they announced they would like to go back to China for a sightseeing trip since it is where their adopted daughter, Jaiden, was from. Aside from those things, they also had way bigger plans for their winnings.
Simple Wishes
Taking Care Of The Family’s Needs
First, they addressed their family’s immediate and long-term needs. They made arrangements to go to the beach since their youngest daughter hadn’t been to one in the past given Missouri’s geographic location. Also, they generously created college funds for their nephews, nieces, and grandkids to ensure that the future would be bright for them. Then, they started to look around their house and at the things they used in day-to-day life, thinking of what they could improve and upgrade, and Mark noted his pickup truck was badly rundown and quite old, though what happened next showed true character.
Taking Care Of The Family’s Needs
Defying Expectations
Most people might think Mark Hill would immediately buy something totally luxurious with their lottery winnings as it would hardly put a dent in the millions of dollars which had come their way. However, most casual observers don’t know what kind of people the Hill family are and the principles that defined them. Mark actually had dreamed of replacing his worn pickup truck with a Camaro sports car, but he did something which defied an ordinary person’s expectations of their family: he just replaced his old pickup truck with a new one. Money wouldn’t change the character of the Hill family and their whole town was going to see exactly what that meant.
Defying Expectations
Strong Convictions
After it was announced that they had incredibly won the Powerball lottery, the Hill family had conversations amongst themselves and came out with strong convictions. Their lives had been shaped by various factors and being grateful for them became a guiding force that helped them decide where their newfound wealth would be best given to. Whatever will happen to them, the family wanted to ensure that this chance winning wouldn’t go to their heads and change them as people. In addition, it was really important for them that their community would benefit from what they initially did with this money and for Mark, the answer couldn’t have been clearer.
Strong Convictions
Camden Point’s Downtown
Even though it is still considered a city, the community where the Hills lived is relatively tiny with a population of around 500 people and located in the state’s rural area, not too far from the border. The nearest big city to Camden Point is Kansas City, approximately 30 miles away. Mostly composed of abandoned brick buildings, the downtown area of Camden Point was in dire need of some cheer and an upgrade of its infrastructure was overdue. However, the small community had no idea just how the Hill family would bring an unexpected change.
Camden Point’s Downtown
The Community Helpers
Mark thought of the forces in their small community that had the biggest impact in his family’s lives. In the past years, firefighters had helped save the life of his father twice and even if it wasn’t possible for Mark to sufficiently translate his gratitude to an amount to be paid, he thought that maybe there was a way he could help the people who dedicate their lives to serving and saving others. Actually, the fire chief of Camden Point, Walter Stubbs, was Mark and Cindy’s high school friend. Needless to say, it has to be taken into consideration that in such a tiny town, nothing is too coincidental, and so Mark and Cindy came up with an idea for a great present for Walter.
The Community Helpers
Improving The Conditions
Mark and Cindy Hill made a decision to dedicate some of the money they won in the lottery to helping the local fire station. They came to Camden Point Fire Chief Walter Stubbs, their old friend, and told him that they wanted to give him some funds, but he could hardly believe what they said to him. The fire chief’s initial ideas were unabashedly humble as he considered their immediate needs at the fire station which could be solved pretty simply, such as new equipment or maybe an additional fire truck that could be added to their battalion. He couldn’t have predicted what was about to come next.
Improving The Conditions
A Complete Revamp
Walter had apparently underestimated what his old friends Mark and Cindy thought of for him. The Hills told Walter Stubbs that they wished to build him an entirely new fire station seeing as the current one, for some reason, had not been built near major roads, making it quite inconvenient. The new firehouse would be constructed next to the highway in order to better serve the needs of the town. Mark and Cindy Hill had become huge decision-makers who were shaping their community’s fate and they showed their great generosity, but constructing a new fire station was only the beginning.
A Complete Revamp
Expanding The Facilities
As a gift for Camden Point, the Hills planned to build a new fire station which would have a bigger garage so that it could contain more emergency vehicles. In addition, the station would have a living space where firefighters could comfortably take a rest after putting in a long shift. It was Mark and Cindy’s desire to make sure the people who risk their lives to guarantee the safety of everybody in the community were taken care of. Of course, the town felt overjoyed seeing as their rather small community would be getting a pretty advanced firehouse that is open 24/7, but Mark and Cindy Hill weren’t done helping unassuming beneficiaries.
Expanding The Facilities
Upgrading The Town
The Hills also thought of upgrading the town to make it safer and to allow the locals to enjoy a higher quality of life. This is the reason why they chose to encourage a pastime that is truly American and bought a new baseball field for the town! Similar to the firehouse, the existing baseball field had structural issues at the time and the old park was way too close to freely flowing traffic – ironically the fire station’s opposite problem. Even then, Mark and Cindy Hill weren’t done showing how far their generosity would go in the face of their massive fortune.
Upgrading The Town
Infrastructure Repair
Repairing the infrastructure of their beloved town was something the Hill family wanted to do but for them to do it most efficiently, they needed to consider what was necessary to help their town from the ground up. They came up with the idea of improving drainage, so they bought the land that was needed for a new 50,000-dollar sewage treatment plant. The residents wouldn’t need to rely on the septic tanks they have at home with this new system. In every possible area of their town’s day-to-day functioning, Mark and Cindy Hill were ready to intervene and give back using the gift and opportunity the Powerball lottery presented them with.
Infrastructure Repair
Expanding Their Vision
The Hills had completely reshaped the infrastructure of their town, by reshaping its sewage system and security system and ensuring the next generation would get the chance to enjoy themselves in the place they had called home. However, as though that wasn’t “the bigger picture,” they now expanded their vision further. Amazingly, even with the charitable donations they have made for Camden Point’s betterment, the Hills had only just tapped into their lottery winnings’ reservoir but they were not done yet. Instead of splurging on extravagant new possessions, they looked back into their past to get some inspiration and it took them out of their current community.
Expanding Their Vision
Impacting Many More
Mark and Cindy used to attend North Platte High School, which is in a town called Dearborn in Missouri. The couple had already made sure that the scholastic future of their own family was taken care of but for them, that seemed like an obvious thing to do when someone wins the Powerball lottery, so it didn’t quite satisfy them. They were given an opportunity to impact more people, not just those in their town, and Mark and Cindy truly wanted to share the gift they had been given to the society. Even though it was noble to improve living conditions and it answered immediate needs, they were thinking of something more long-term.
Impacting Many More
In The Spotlight
The Hills decided to create a scholarship fund at their old school, North Platte High School. They wanted to give the talented students an extra boost to make sure that they would be able to go on to greater and bigger things, even outside their quiet rural community’s scope and surroundings. Actually, all the acts of kindness the Hills did had created ripples across Missouri and their community was put in the national news’ spotlight seeing as readers were eager to know what these Powerball lottery winners decided to do with their cash. Nevertheless, what were the locals’ reaction to these massive changes and this sudden intense interest in their town?
In The Spotlight
A Remarkable Transformation
Camden Point’s Mayor Kevin Boydston was overwhelmed with gratitude for how Mark and Cindy impacted their community. He has said that according to his evaluation, the transformation that their town experienced could have taken 25 years to achieve had it not been for the Hills and their investment in the town’s infrastructure. People who found out about the Hills’ story might have been pretty surprised by Mark and Cindy’s insistence to focus on such a small town, but the mayor and the people who knew the family wouldn’t have expected anything less from the Hills, even when faced with extreme wealth. Residents of Camden Point thought the lottery was definitely awarded to the appropriate couple, but how did the Hills feel about their win?
A Remarkable Transformation
Final Total Winnings
The Hills may have won half of an extremely large Powerball lottery in the United States, but that wasn’t the sum they got in the end. After the Hill family won this mindboggingly large sum in the lottery, they succeeded in pocketing for themselves roughly 136.5 million dollars “in a lump-sum payment” after taxes. Following the completion of these local projects, the family could have opted to take a completely new path and with that amount of money, it was possible for them to live anywhere they wanted and in whatever type of home they wanted. However, the Hill family decided to do something regarding their living situation which left a lot of people who knew about their story scratching their heads.
Final Total Winnings
Choosing To Stay
Despite the unimaginable wealth they came across, this small-town family couldn’t leave the place which had nurtured them until this point. They simply loved where they lived – no amount of money was changing that, so they didn’t move and remained in Camden Point, like they had before, and just live slightly more comfortably. In spite of all that money which they had acquired in really extraordinary circumstances, they were most content in their tiny Missouri town. In addition, Mark continues to go out for coffee with his friends at a local store in the mornings, just as always.
Choosing To Stay
Extremely Low Odds
Powerball lottery is available in 44 states across the U.S., the District of Columbia, and overseas territories the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The lives of Mark and Cindy Hall were forever changed by a couple of simple devices but according to January 2012 statistics, their odds of winning were 1 in 175,223,510. If a person wins the Powerball lottery, they receive their winnings either in two installments or over 30 yearly installments. However, apart from the Hills, other lottery winners were drastically different in the way they reacted to suddenly having huge sums.
Extremely Low Odds
Winning Quietly
Needless to say, the Hills were totally perplexed by their newfound fame and Mark himself even said in interviews that he’d rather stop talking about the whole thing and simply enjoy living his life. A Powerball lottery winner in New Hampshire even went further by not claiming the winnings since in New Hampshire, the lottery requires the Powerball lottery winner to write on the back of their ticket their name and address. The woman who won took the commission to court, insisting on having privacy and quietly winning the $560 million jackpot. What would you do if you won the lottery?
Winning Quietly
The First Steps
In the rare occasion that a person wins the Powerball lottery, figuring out how to manage the winnings along with the consequences may not seem very clear. However, the first steps the winner needs to take are to protect the ticket and claim it as their own: signing it before keeping it safe. If a person wins the lottery, it might even be better to rent a hotel room temporarily, change email addresses and phone numbers, and even take down social media accounts. However, before winners can use any of those amazing funds, they first have to pay the taxes for them!
The First Steps