After winning $150,000 in the Powerball lottery, Virginia's Carrie Edwards is making headlines—not for spending her windfall, but for giving every dollar away to causes close to her heart. Edwards, a widow and grandmother, snagged her prize after matching four numbers plus the Powerball in the Sept. 8 draw, just after a pair of players split a record $1.79 billion. Instead of splurging on herself, however, Edwards split her six-figure win evenly among three nonprofits.
Fifty grand each will go to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, Shalom Farms, and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. For Edwards, the AFTD donation is especially meaningful—her late husband, a firefighter, died from FTD, a form of early-onset dementia. "This cause is deeply personal," she said, adding that her win offered a chance to "shine a light" on families battling the disease and the researchers seeking a cure. Shalom Farms, based in Richmond, works to make food more accessible, while the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society offers a financial and educational lifeline to military members and their families.
"These three organizations represent healing, service, and community," Edwards says of her chosen charities, per the Guardian. She adds that she felt compelled to give because "God is blessing me, so I can bless others." This was Edwards' rookie run with an online ticket—and her $3 bet (in which she ponied up an extra dollar for Power Play) tripled her winnings over a standard ticket. The New York Post has another interesting nugget: Edwards says she used a bot to help pick her numbers. "I'm like, 'ChatGPT, talk to me. Do you have numbers for me?'" she recalled during a presser.
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