Sandra Burdick had always told her daughter, Jessica Delario, that if she called in the middle of the night, it meant someone had died or she had just won the lottery.
So when Delario picked up her phone at about 2:20 a.m. Dec. 22 and heard her mother crying, she didn’t know what to think.
It turned out Burdick, 56, who has been playing the lottery since she quit smoking a few years ago, had just won $1 million playing Mega Millions.
“Flip it over, sign it and put it away!” Delario told her mother, referring to the winning ticket.
Monday, Burdick, of Middleport, smiled for the media as she was presented an oversized check for $1 million. She will be taking home a lump sum of $661,800.
Burdick wasn’t the only Western New Yorker to win the lottery recently. Cory and Alexandrea Hayhurst, of West Seneca, are splitting $100,000 a year for life, with a $2 million guaranteed minimum.
Cory Hayhurst, 31, was never a big lottery player. But Jan. 4 he went into the Tops Market on Harlem Road in West Seneca to get some groceries. “I just had some loose cash in my pocket,” he explained Monday at the New York Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Buffalo.
Hayhurst, a warehouse worker, bought several “Money for Life” scratch-off tickets, and when he got to his car, he scratched off three “Win for Life” symbols. In a state of shock, he called his wife, who also thought it was too good to be true.
They still seemed to be in a state of disbelief Monday as they posed with their oversized check.
The couple, who have a young son, will split $100,000 a year for the next 20 years – a net of $33,090 each. Once they get to $2 million, they will continue to receive the same annual amount for as long as Cory Hayhurst lives.
All of the new millionaires said they had no plans to quit their jobs but added that the extra cash would help ease financial stress.
“I think it will be a little more easy peasy,” Alexandrea Hayhurst said. “We can feel a little more comfortable.”
The Hayhursts hope to travel and invest in their future.
Burdick said she hoped to fix up her house, buy a new car and help out her children.
email: mbecker@buffnews.com
So when Delario picked up her phone at about 2:20 a.m. Dec. 22 and heard her mother crying, she didn’t know what to think.
It turned out Burdick, 56, who has been playing the lottery since she quit smoking a few years ago, had just won $1 million playing Mega Millions.
“Flip it over, sign it and put it away!” Delario told her mother, referring to the winning ticket.
Monday, Burdick, of Middleport, smiled for the media as she was presented an oversized check for $1 million. She will be taking home a lump sum of $661,800.
Burdick wasn’t the only Western New Yorker to win the lottery recently. Cory and Alexandrea Hayhurst, of West Seneca, are splitting $100,000 a year for life, with a $2 million guaranteed minimum.
Cory Hayhurst, 31, was never a big lottery player. But Jan. 4 he went into the Tops Market on Harlem Road in West Seneca to get some groceries. “I just had some loose cash in my pocket,” he explained Monday at the New York Lottery’s Customer Service Center in Buffalo.
Hayhurst, a warehouse worker, bought several “Money for Life” scratch-off tickets, and when he got to his car, he scratched off three “Win for Life” symbols. In a state of shock, he called his wife, who also thought it was too good to be true.
They still seemed to be in a state of disbelief Monday as they posed with their oversized check.
The couple, who have a young son, will split $100,000 a year for the next 20 years – a net of $33,090 each. Once they get to $2 million, they will continue to receive the same annual amount for as long as Cory Hayhurst lives.
All of the new millionaires said they had no plans to quit their jobs but added that the extra cash would help ease financial stress.
“I think it will be a little more easy peasy,” Alexandrea Hayhurst said. “We can feel a little more comfortable.”
The Hayhursts hope to travel and invest in their future.
Burdick said she hoped to fix up her house, buy a new car and help out her children.
email: mbecker@buffnews.com