"Who would cook the food?"
URI dining hall employees win $10,000 Powerball prize
Whitney Tallarico
Issue date: 9/30/08 Section: News
09/30/08 - Earlier this month, after more than 10 years of pooling their money on lottery tickets, the employees of the University of Rhode Island's Butterfield Dining Hall got lucky. Employees won $10,000 from a PowerBall lottery ticket.
The group bought the winning ticket from the Cumberland Farms convenience store in the Kingston Emporium.
Four of the numbers on their winning ticket matched the PowerBall number. If they had one more matching number, the employees would have been splitting a $105 million prize instead.
Butterfield's Brian Arcand, the evening supervisor, said if that were the case, some employees might take their cash and hit the road. "Who would cook the food?" he asked.
After taxes, the group had $6,600 to split. Each participant ended up with $165.93.
Betty Garabedian, cook's helper who coordinated and collected the money for the lottery pool for ten years, said that although it is true that the winners could have won more money on their own, it was "more fun winning in a group."
The win was an unexpected and exciting experience for all of the 40 employees. As Betty Garabedian said, "It was a fun thing."
Butterfield Dining Hall manager Pat Marino did not always like the idea of the lottery. "I never wanted to encourage gambling, but people put a dollar in for me and said, 'you'll want to be a part of it if we win,'" he said.
Eventually, Marino joined in the pool.
The employees even threw down a few dollars for their co-workers who were out of the office because of sickness, or were otherwise unable to donate.
Butterfield employee, Kevin Jacques, another participant told the South County Independent, "Everyone is doing it. A couple of people are out for an extended period, and we always put in for them to keep them in the pool."
Garabedian said it was more than staff who wanted in on the pool. "There was a cute redheaded student named Ryan who offered me a dollar to put in our lottery pool, even though I told him that only staff members were allowed to participate," she said, I would not accept the dollar, but he was a very sweet boy."
According to the winners, the majority of the money that each lottery pool member received has already been spent, but the staff is very hopeful that they will win again.
After the media heard the story, ABC News sent a reporter to film the staff members at work for a few hours one morning.
Most employees who appeared on TV found the whole ordeal amusing.
Some laughed because they couldn't believe someone would be interested in their story. Others, camera shy, stayed away from the TV crew.
One employee showed off her new white sneakers that she bought with her winnings.
When a reporter asked what he did with the money, Arcand said, "It's gone. I didn't save a dime. I decided I'm not going to pay a bill with this."
The group bought the winning ticket from the Cumberland Farms convenience store in the Kingston Emporium.
Four of the numbers on their winning ticket matched the PowerBall number. If they had one more matching number, the employees would have been splitting a $105 million prize instead.
Butterfield's Brian Arcand, the evening supervisor, said if that were the case, some employees might take their cash and hit the road. "Who would cook the food?" he asked.
After taxes, the group had $6,600 to split. Each participant ended up with $165.93.
Betty Garabedian, cook's helper who coordinated and collected the money for the lottery pool for ten years, said that although it is true that the winners could have won more money on their own, it was "more fun winning in a group."
The win was an unexpected and exciting experience for all of the 40 employees. As Betty Garabedian said, "It was a fun thing."
Butterfield Dining Hall manager Pat Marino did not always like the idea of the lottery. "I never wanted to encourage gambling, but people put a dollar in for me and said, 'you'll want to be a part of it if we win,'" he said.
Eventually, Marino joined in the pool.
The employees even threw down a few dollars for their co-workers who were out of the office because of sickness, or were otherwise unable to donate.
Butterfield employee, Kevin Jacques, another participant told the South County Independent, "Everyone is doing it. A couple of people are out for an extended period, and we always put in for them to keep them in the pool."
Garabedian said it was more than staff who wanted in on the pool. "There was a cute redheaded student named Ryan who offered me a dollar to put in our lottery pool, even though I told him that only staff members were allowed to participate," she said, I would not accept the dollar, but he was a very sweet boy."
According to the winners, the majority of the money that each lottery pool member received has already been spent, but the staff is very hopeful that they will win again.
After the media heard the story, ABC News sent a reporter to film the staff members at work for a few hours one morning.
Most employees who appeared on TV found the whole ordeal amusing.
Some laughed because they couldn't believe someone would be interested in their story. Others, camera shy, stayed away from the TV crew.
One employee showed off her new white sneakers that she bought with her winnings.
When a reporter asked what he did with the money, Arcand said, "It's gone. I didn't save a dime. I decided I'm not going to pay a bill with this."
