Canadian Forces women hit $5M lottery jackpot
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 posted 03:10 AM EDT
A group of Canadian Forces women shared a $5-million payout on Tuesday, but not from the government.
The eight women — civilian staff members at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa in eastern Ontario — bought the ticket with the winning numbers for last Friday's Super 7 lottery.
They all shared a limousine for the five-hour ride to lottery headquarters in Toronto to announce their jackpot, with $650,000 going to each winner.
The women said they hope their win will spread some good cheer among people at the base and soldiers in the Afghan mission — especially after the hardships they've faced in the past two weeks.
Since the start of September, five Canadian soldiers have been killed and several others injured in southern Afghanistan. At least four of the deceased had been based at CFB Petawawa.
"We're hoping it's going to bring some joy within to everyone," Cheryl Coates, one of the lottery winners, told CBC News.
"Petawawa has had a hard time the last few weeks."
All but one of the women is a military spouse. Coates and Janice Larade both have husbands who are warrant officers currently stationed in Afghanistan until February.
No plans to quit jobs at base
Instead of the green military vehicles the women are accustomed to seeing at the base, a rented limousine whisked them in style from Petawawa to Toronto pick up their winnings.
All eight wore T-shirts emblazoned with yellow ribbons signalling support for the soldiers.
The women, ranging in age from 24 to 55, work for the Normandy Officers Mess and learned of their good fortune on Saturday after one of them looked up the numbers on the internet.
The women said their husbands didn't believe them at first when they told them of the win on the telephone.
Most said they would use the jackpot to pay bills and help relatives pay for their education.
But not one mentioned quitting her job at the base.
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