A Dearborn couple made Powerball history by winning half of the game’s largest jackpot ever and the state’s largest prize. This morning the couple held a news conference with their family. Their adopted Chinese daughter Jaiden was front and center the whole time. Cindy and Mark Hill said they are in shock after discovering they held one of two tickets that matched all six numbers drawn to win the record Nov. 28 jackpot worth $587.5 million. “I called my husband and told him, ‘I think I am having a heart attack,’” Cindy, 51, said. “I think we just won the Lottery!”
Cindy had dropped their daughter off at school and headed to a convenience store to get a winning numbers report after hearing a winning ticket was sold in Missouri. She checked her tickets in the car and drove straight to her mother-in-law’s house to have her double-check the ticket. Then she called Mark, and he went to his mom’s house to see for himself. “You know it’s the Show Me State, so he said, ‘Show me,’” Cindy joked.
Cindy bought the couple’s winning combination, along with four others. She let the computer quick pick the combinations on her ticket. “I was just telling my daughter the night before, ‘Honey, that probably never happens (people winning),’” she mused. The couple, who adopted a daughter from China five years ago, said they talked about adopting again since finding out about their win. They also plan to help family members, such as paying for college educations for their four granddaughters and their four nieces and nephews.
Cindy said she and Mark haven’t had a lot of time to talk about their plans for the windfall, but since her daughter has never seen the beach, they plan to take her to one. She also wants a horse, so “in a couple years, I’d say yes.” Cindy also said Mark, 52, has talked about a red Camaro. “It’s really going to be nice to spend time – not have to work – and be able to take trips with our family,” she added.
Cindy Hill worked as an office manager, but was laid off in June 2010 due to the loss of a grant. She said she then took a year off to spend time with their daughter and began looking for work recently when her daughter went to first grade. Mark Hill works as a mechanic for Hillshire Brands.
Also see Sandeep “Sunny” Singh wins $30.5 million Mega Millions jackpot
Dearborn Powerball winners and their adopted Chinese daughter
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They look like a nice family. Hopefully, they’ll also find their adopted daughter’s family and assist her Chinese family to reconnect.
The tone of this story is lovely in places, but folks also need to remember that adoptees are not blank slates and there are numerous ways to assist children in orphanages, not just by adopting them abroad. Especially when America sends children oversea for adoption itself. That’s right, a wealthy country like the USA sends children to places like Canada and Germany for adoption. So international adoption is not simple.
Great they are giving some of their win to charities. This could include to Asian single mothers foundations and projects designed to let poor and disenfranchised women keep their families together, not lose their children who they may have had access to in local orphanages to none when they are sent abroad. Korea has leading examples of such projects that assist Korean mothers to keep their children out of the adoption system.
While China is somewhat more complicated, the winners could also donate to Chinese adoptee non-profits that are run by adoptees, like Chinese Adoptee Links, and assist the Chinese adoptee community to have post-adoption services like counselling, searching for birth/Chinese relatives programmes, and scholarships to study Chinese and visit China for transnational linkages.
Thank you APA for sharing the article.