Powerball winner's lost-and-found ticket: Drama, millions and charity in Lerynne West's journey
This tale could easily be the plot of a compelling film. Lerynne purchased her Powerball lottery ticket from a local vendor in October 2018. When she discovered her win, the ticket was nowhere to be found. As it turns out, she had left it in her friend's truck.
9:04 AM EST, January 13, 2024
After a while, Lerynne found her lottery ticket and joined the ranks of two Powerball jackpot winners in the US. The full jackpot was $700 million, thus she was in line to receive precisely $343 million.
Lerynne had two choices for claiming her winnings. The first was to take the prize in instalments, set to be paid over 2.5 years, after accounting for the federal tax of 24 percent.
The second option was to collect the total amount immediately, though this would mean the figure would be reduced from $350 million to $198 million and further to $140 million after taxation. During a crisis, she chose the latter, taking a one-time payout of a smaller sum.
The charitable side of Lerynne: sharing her win
After winning such a substantial sum, Lerynne resigned from her job. However, she knew she wanted to utilize her winnings to assist her family and others in need.
As noted by CNN, Lerynne appeared on the Ellen Degeneres Show post-win, where she announced a donation of $500,000 to the Travis Mills Foundation – an organization dedicated to helping wounded soldiers.
Lerynne's subsequent decision was to establish the Callum Foundation. It was named in memory of her grandson who died prematurely. The foundation is committed to providing educational support, assisting the underprivileged, and helping veterans.
