http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ll-jackpot.html

Just how does an unemployed 26 year old single mother of 4 afford $20 to blow on the lottery? BTW, you guessed it. All the kids have different fathers....

Zitat

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A single mother-of-four from North Carolina was announced at an official news conference today as one of three winners of a historic lottery jackpot worth $564million.

Marie Holmes, 26, from Shallotte, North Carolina, will take the lump-sum payment of $127million before taxes for her lucky ticket from the February 11 drawing.

Though she announced her winnings to a local news station two weeks ago, the passing of the over-sized check makes her winnings official.

Holmes has said that she hopes to set up college funds for her children, buy a new home, give money to church and to travel - perhaps to Paris, as she's never been outside the United States.

Holmes says she gave her mom $15 to buy five tickets on her way to church. She later bought five more.

Weeks later, life is very different. She says security accompanies her everywhere. At the news conference, she was flanked by her lawyer and her financial adviser.

Holmes and her family live in a trailer in Shallotte, North Carolina — just north of South Carolina on the coast.

Winning still 'doesn't feel real', Holmes said at the press conference.

'It's not going to change the person that I am, but it's going to change our situation,' she added. 'It's going to be very fortunate.'

The lucky winner said earlier this month that she scared her kids, one of whom has cerebral palsy, after she found out she had won and began screaming that they 'didn't have to struggle anymore'.

'I am humbled and grateful for the opportunities this has created for my family,' she said.

She said at the conference that now she is happy her family won't have to struggle anymore now that she has the money.

'They're going to be able to live a comfortable life,' she said. 'That's everything.'

She used to work at McDonald's and Walmart before quitting to take care of her children.

Her four children, Brayden, Charisma, Andrea and Ebony, are aged from nine months to seven years old. Brayden is believed to suffer from cerebral palsy.

Holmes sacrificed her education to care for her four children and took minimum wage jobs to provide for her family.

With little or no help from the fathers of her four young children, she has struggled financially for most of her adult life.

Holmes has also seen her own father repeatedly jailed and her favorite cousin shot and left paralyzed after a home invasion.

Family members describe Holmes as a loving mother who always put her children first.

'Marie is very grounded and she will know what to do with all that money,' said her uncle William Bryant.

'I'm sure she will want to buy a new home for herself and her kids, but I can't see any extravagant purchases. She's a nice girl who loves her family and loves her church.'

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