Regina Jackson just won a lottery. Now she wants to buy a truckload of toilet paper.
Not for herself, mind you, but for a charitable group that she grew dependent on over a seven-month period in 2008 after she was temporarily laid off from her customer service job at Cinmar in West Chester.
Last week, Jackson’s fortunes turned considerably after she won $1 million in the Ohio Lottery’s New Year’s Raffle.
Jackson doesn’t expect her life to change much, but she wants to give back to Reach Out Lakota, a nonprofit that provides food, clothing and necessities to needy Butler County residents.
“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have been eating,’’ Jackson said of Reach Out Lakota. “My mother, who I live with, had enough to cover the rent, the gas, the electric, the phone, but not the food.”
There was no money for other necessities, including toilet paper.
“That is the one thing that people don’t realize until they don’t have it,” Jackson said. “At Reach Out Lakota, you only get two rolls of toilet paper and a roll of paper towels (monthly). If I could buy them a truckload I would, but I will just donate them money instead.”
Jackson, 60, still lives with her 81-year-old mother, Doris Dromboski. She is divorced and has one son, Robert, who lives in Seattle.
Jackson was one of four $1 million winners Jan. 2 in the Ohio Lottery New Year’s Raffle game. After federal and state taxes, Jackson next month will receive a lump sum of $710,000. She also plans to donate to the Faith Community United Methodist Church in West Chester, which also helped Jackson when she was laid off.
“We are very appreciative for the help we received,” Doris Dromboski said. “Why wouldn’t we want to give back? It is just the right thing to do, so they can provide food for someone else in need.”
Jackson, an animal lover, says she will also donate to the Resource & Spay/Neuter Clinic in Madisonville and the Animal Friends Humane Society in Hamilton.
Even though Jackson returned to Cinmar in August 2008, the family continued to struggle financially. That is, until last Thursday, when Jackson had a cashier scan her lottery ticket at the Meijer store in Hamilton.
“It said ‘winner, winner’ when she scanned it and she asked me, ‘How much do you think you won?’’’ Jackson said. “I told her, ‘I would love for it to be $1,000, but I would happy if it was $100.’”
“How about a million?” the cashier asked.
Jackson thought it was a joke until the cashier showed her the ticket.
“After she showed me, I just didn’t know what to say,” said Jackson. “I am still in shock.”
Jackson called her mother and told her to sit down.
“When people tell me to sit down it’s usually bad news,” her mother said. “I had been praying for some extra money, but I wasn’t praying for that much.’’
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