A debt collector from Northern Ireland who won a £13 million EuroMillions prize earlier this month has vowed to give something back to the community by using some of her wealth to help disadvantaged youngsters.
Mary Hamilton, 65, who lives in from Newtownabbey, County Antrim, with her husband Sandy, used to work as money collector for a furniture company and refuses to forget all the people who helped keep her in a job.
"I work all over Belfast and those people are all so lovely—all of them," Mary said. "I just want to do something for our community in Northern Ireland, for both sides of the community."
A regular lottery player, Mary had been using the same numbers for 10 years, but recently made the change to Lucky Dip tickets.
"I had the ticket a week and I didn't know [it was a winner]. It was in my bag," Mary said. "I didn't think I would ever win money like this. I always hoped I'd win a few hundred or maybe a few thousand but that was it."
Mary claimed her prize on Tuesday and said she intends to up her job and buy a new home. She also plans on making a few more purchases in an effort to pump some cash into the local community.
"I'd like to help both sides of the community and also do my bit to help the local economy which has had it tough lately," she said.
Mary is just of over 3,700 millionaires whose life was changed by the National Lottery, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this week.
