Life
Family Wins $429 Million Dollars In Lottery Commits To Donating To Charity
What would you do if you won the lottery? I would definitely donate some, but it's incredible to see this family donate everything!
Jonathan Maes
06.17.17

What would you do if you won the lottery? Itโ€™s a pretty fun question to think about and itโ€™s amazing how a single lottery ticket can change lives drastically.

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Smith Family Foundation
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Smith Family Foundation
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The Smith Family of Trenton, New Jersey just won the Powerball lottery in 2016 with a whopping amount of prize money: they won 429 million US dollars, but they sure had a good idea about what to do with all that extra income.

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NJ.com
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NJ.com

The lucky winner, Pearlie Mae Smith, declared in a press conference afterward that she and her seven children wanted to dedicate this lottery win to their community and were making plans to give back to the local people.

Almost a year later, the Smith family has already changed the lives of dozens of people.

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NJ.com
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โ€œIt was like affirmation from God because we each have dreams that we want to fulfill in this life, and do for our community and do for each other and for our families and we have been funded to do that,โ€ daughter Valerie Arthur said during the press conference.

After taxes were deducted, every family member would be eligible to receive just about 25 million dollars. The Smith family paid off all the bills they had, including expensive student loans and other financial troubles.

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NJ.com
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When the family was financially settled, they shifted their focus towards helping people who were struggling to make ends meet. The Smith Family Foundation was born.

โ€œThe seeds for the foundation were planted decades ago in the South Side of Trenton, where Seamon and Pearlie Smith raised their children on values of hard work, love of God, and giving back.โ€

โ€œOur mission is to empower our community, cultivate leaders and transform lives by providing and funding and leadership development to Trenton-based organizations.โ€

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NJ.com
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NJ.com

In short, the Smith Foundation focuses on the large things: improving education, cultivation, and transformation by providing financial support to many different organizations in the city as well as providing support directly to children and their families.

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Harold Smith, the program manager of the foundation and one of the eight prize money recipients, talked to NJ.com about their charitable goal.

โ€œWe want to fund programs that directly affect systems of poverty so we can help change the systems or change the dynamics that are causing people to be in poverty.โ€

โ€œRather than just helping them find food or give away food, we can make it so they now have the ability to obtain employment, get their proper education in order to be able to go out and get their own food,โ€ Harold said.

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NJ.com
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NJ.com

โ€œWhen people think of the city of Trenton, we donโ€™t want the first thing they think of to be gangs and violence,โ€ Smith continued. โ€œWe want people to think of a vibrant city, a city thatโ€™s on the upswing, a city thatโ€™s bringing new life into the community, the capital of the state.โ€

โ€œThe foundation is a legacy for the family,โ€ he concludes.

What an amazing family. Their dedication to sharing their fortune with people in need and changing lives is truly heartwarming.

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Source: Smith Family Foundation, Huffington Post, NJ

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