*Remember the North Carolina woman who won $188 million in the Powerball lottery back in February? Well, she’s doing some good in her hood, so to speak.
According to WNCN TV, Marie Holmes has donated nearly $700,000 to her church, Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church. By the way, Holmes, 27, took home a $127 million lump sum payment following her lottery win.
Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church is a 130-year-old church located in Brunswick County halfway between Shallotte and Ocean Isle. It’s a predominantly African-American church that has 400 members, 135 of which are regular attendees.
“The first thing she promised was to tithe – or give a tenth of her winnings to charity,” according to a prepared statement from Ruth Sheehan with the Francis Law Firm, who represents Holmes. Before she won the lottery, the mother had worked at Walmart and McDonald’s.
“Everything is for them. All the struggles that I went through it was all for them,” Holmes said about her children in an interview with WECT following her lottery win.”I just want them to understand that money doesn’t change you. It can help you. They don’t have to worry about that. They can go to college, on me. And they don’t have to worry about nothing. I’m glad I can do that for them.”
In another report by WWAY-TV 3, it was learned that the lottery winner formed the Marie Holmes Foundation with an “initial investment of $9.7 million for the benefit of charitable organizations large and small.”
Holmes also made news back in October because her boyfriend, Lamarr Andre McDow, found himself in jail for the third time in less than a year. In total Holmes has paid over $9 million in bonds to get McDow out of jail since she won her fortune.
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