Santa Comes Early to Powerball Winners

By ANNA SPIVAK

It was a snowy celebration in Staten Island on Tuesday as a group of nine coworkers and friends accepted a check for their big $1 million New York Lottery win — just in time for the holidays.

The “Fabulous 9,” a name that one of the winners, Marva Prevost, of the Bronx said “just came to” her, were the winners of an October 26 Powerball drawing, a pool the ladies had been wading in for almost 20 years.

Mauleen Gomez of Staten Island purchased the winning ticket and Lucille White, another Staten Islander, was the first to discover that the group had matched five out of the six numbers in the drawing.

Gomez, who could not make the event, and White are in charge of the pool and according to the other group members, keep it going each week.

“I was shocked,” said White, a resident of Great Kills.

“I didn’t believe her at first,” added Deborah Scalera, a certified nursing assistant from Westerleigh, about hearing the news from White.

Most of the winners work together at Staten Island’s Eger Health Care Center, roshe run femmes a rehabilitation and assisted living facility where the check presentation took place.

Gretchen Dizer of the New York Lottery’s draw team led the event and announced that the women would collectively split their winnings and “receive just over $69,000 each.”

When asked what they planned to do with the money, the cheery faced ladies dressed in scrubs, including the other Staten Islanders/winners Annette Alexis, Stephany Marchese, Roseanna Pucciarelli and Linda Rizzo, responded with mixtures of, “I’m gonna take a vacation,” “enjoy with the family,” and “invest.”

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply