Don’t you wish she was your grandma? NC lottery winner will fund grandkids’ college
The director of an early childhood education program recently won the N.C. Education Lottery.
Keeping with the theme, she’s putting the money back where it came from — education.
Connie Carr-Costin took home the $636,788 jackpot playing Carolina Cash 5 on Nov. 17, according to lottery officials. After withholdings, her prize money came to $450,528, which she plans to put toward college funds for her four grandchildren.
She also said she’s going to pay off her four children’s student loans and tuck a little away for retirement.
“This is going to start a nice legacy for my family,” she said.
Carr-Costin is the executive director of Smart Start of Pender County, a public-private partnership providing a variety of services to kids under 6 and their families in the coastal county.
It’s part of a statewide program — not related to the federally funded Head Start — designed to better prepare children for school by providing health services, early education opportunities and childcare, according to the Smart Start website.
Some Smart Start offices, such as those in Forsyth County, administer the N.C. Pre-K program for at-risk 4-year-olds. The N.C. Education Lottery helps fund that program.
Carr-Costin told lottery officials she plays Cash 5 when the winnings are more than $200,000.
On the day of the drawing, she bought a ticket online for $1 using the same numbers she had on a Quick Pick ticket earlier in the month.
The lottery app on Carr-Costin’s phone notified her the next morning that she’d won.
“My heart was racing,” she said. “I was all a flutter. I’d been playing for a while and I could get four numbers to win $250, but never could get the fifth. I said I’ve got to have a little faith.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 1:18 PM.
