Longtime Preschool Teacher in North Carolina Wins $250,000 Lottery Months After Getting Laid Off

Joe Camp had suffered a particularly tough few months — losing his longtime job and mourning the death of his father — until his luck turned around on Christmas Eve morning.

The Charlotte, North Carolina, resident headed to a gas station to buy a lottery ticket that morning, per his normal routine. However, he ended up winning $250,000 on the Gold Rush ticket he bought that day.

“Thursday morning, I went to the store and bought a scratch-off ticket like I usually do,” Camp said in a press release from NC Lottery. “And I bought two tickets. I didn’t win on the first one, so I tried the second and I scratched it off, and I fell to my knees at the gas pump.”

Man Wins $60 Million Lottery After Playing with the Same Numbers for More Than 20 Years

Camp had spent 20 years as a preschool teacher, but was laid off in September and had to find work at a car dealership instead. He told the NC Lottery, despite his recent hardships, that his friends and family kept him strong.

“I just recently got employed at a car dealership auto sales center,” he said. “I was a teacher for 20 years, a preschool teacher, and I got laid off on September 6. A month after that, my dad passed away. And it put me in a dark place. But I have a lot of friends and family that just told me to keep sticking in there, keep believing in myself.”

As a father and grandfather, Camp added that he’s planning on putting his winnings aside for his family, including securing a new home and saving for his daughter’s education.

"What I plan on doing with my winnings is having a future for my daughter,” he said.

“I want to get a home because I want to set it up for my family, my grandkids,” Camp added. “I want to have something for us. I never had anything, no one passed anything down, and that’s what I want to do.”

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