"Everything is all for them," Marie Holmes, a 26-year-old Shallotte, N.C., mother of four, told WPXI, regarding her becoming an instant millionaire as one of three winners with all the numbers in Wednesday's $564 million Powerball drawing.
"All the struggle that I ever went through, it was all for them," said Holmes, whose winnings, before taxes, total $188 million. Holmes told the news station that she had had to quit jobs at McDonald's and Wal-Mart to care for her kids, one of whom has cerebral palsy.
Now, she said, life just got a little easier.
"I just want them to understand that money doesn't change you," she told the news station. "But it can help you. They don't have to worry about debt; they can go to college, all on me; and they don't have to worry about nothing, and I am glad I can do that for them."
She added, "First, I am going to pay my tithes, as I would have none of it if it wasn't for God," WECT reports.
The news station reports that Holmes plans to buy a house and set up college funds for her kids: three girls and one boy. According to the news station, Holmes was headed to Raleigh, N.C., to "meet with lawyers and speak to a financial adviser before turning in the ticket to North Carolina lottery officials."
The other two winning Powerball tickets were sold in Texas and Puerto Rico, according to WPXI.