Lotto Winner Shares $14 Million with Employees
Mar 28, 2008 8:50:07 GMT -5
Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Mar 28, 2008 8:50:07 GMT -5
Still some good people left on the planet.
Butcher carves up lotto jackpot
By JOE WARMINGTON
The Toronto Sun
Jose Lima shows off his jackpot cheque of $14,571,490.70 yesterday, after buying a Lotto 6/49 ticket on a hunch. (Mark O'Neill/Sun Media)
The guy known in Toronto's Portuguese community simply as Joe is not only the richest butcher in Canada -- he may also be the most generous.
Just one day after cashing a lottery win cheque for $14,571,490.70, Jose Lima says he will be at the Portuguese-Canadian butcher shop he manages to hand out $5,000 cheques to his employees this morning.
"I love them all," the 52-year-old said last night as he fought tears. "They all work so hard."
He figures there are about 50 employees at Tasso Talho and he wants them to be part of it. Call this a bonus day. Lottery spokesman Teresa Roncon, herself of Portuguese descent, says in the native tongue it's called saio a grande sorte or "when the big luck comes out."
The big luck came out yesterday when the butcher they call Joe, who came here from the Azores in 1985, won Wednesday's Lotto 6/49 jackpot. He has been on an emotional rollercoaster since and hopes some of that luck will be spread to his staff.
"I don't know why this happened," he said. "I guess God wanted it to. I am a very strong Catholic."
On April 3 he's planning another special day at the store, owned by his brother, in honour of their father, who died five years ago that day.
"I want to hand out 1,000 boxes of chicken legs that could feed a whole family," he said. "I am hoping it will go to some people who may be poor and who would need it."
He himself has known hardship: "I was raised in a very poor village in the Azores."
Those days are long gone.
"But I still want to be known as Joe from the butcher shop," he said. "I don't think I am going to change."
There will be at least one change. You may not see Joe at the shop seven days a week any more. His daughter Jessica, 25, wife Lina and son Jose Jr., 18, have been trying for years to get him to ease up on work. "He needs to take a break," said Jessica.
That will start at the end of this week. "I have already told my brother," said Joe Sr. "I love my job but it's time for me to take some time."
Yesterday started out routine -- no thought of retirement in sight. He was having a coffee and checked his regular numbers: "I could not believe it. I was shaking and my blood was pumping."
But there was a catch -- the ticket was still inside the Lucky Discount Variety near his shop. "Something told me to go in there the night before," he said. "I know the attendant and told him to play my regular numbers, which I have only played five times this year. I always just leave the ticket there."
It was at 7 a.m. when he realized he'd won so it was a long wait until the store opened at 8 a.m.
It certainly made for a different kind of day at the butcher shop. "So many people said to me they were happy it was me."
This morning they'll be happy to know they will also share in the win of the rich, generous and loyal butcher named Joe.
cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/03/28/5129051-sun.html
Butcher carves up lotto jackpot
By JOE WARMINGTON
The Toronto Sun
Jose Lima shows off his jackpot cheque of $14,571,490.70 yesterday, after buying a Lotto 6/49 ticket on a hunch. (Mark O'Neill/Sun Media)
The guy known in Toronto's Portuguese community simply as Joe is not only the richest butcher in Canada -- he may also be the most generous.
Just one day after cashing a lottery win cheque for $14,571,490.70, Jose Lima says he will be at the Portuguese-Canadian butcher shop he manages to hand out $5,000 cheques to his employees this morning.
"I love them all," the 52-year-old said last night as he fought tears. "They all work so hard."
He figures there are about 50 employees at Tasso Talho and he wants them to be part of it. Call this a bonus day. Lottery spokesman Teresa Roncon, herself of Portuguese descent, says in the native tongue it's called saio a grande sorte or "when the big luck comes out."
The big luck came out yesterday when the butcher they call Joe, who came here from the Azores in 1985, won Wednesday's Lotto 6/49 jackpot. He has been on an emotional rollercoaster since and hopes some of that luck will be spread to his staff.
"I don't know why this happened," he said. "I guess God wanted it to. I am a very strong Catholic."
On April 3 he's planning another special day at the store, owned by his brother, in honour of their father, who died five years ago that day.
"I want to hand out 1,000 boxes of chicken legs that could feed a whole family," he said. "I am hoping it will go to some people who may be poor and who would need it."
He himself has known hardship: "I was raised in a very poor village in the Azores."
Those days are long gone.
"But I still want to be known as Joe from the butcher shop," he said. "I don't think I am going to change."
There will be at least one change. You may not see Joe at the shop seven days a week any more. His daughter Jessica, 25, wife Lina and son Jose Jr., 18, have been trying for years to get him to ease up on work. "He needs to take a break," said Jessica.
That will start at the end of this week. "I have already told my brother," said Joe Sr. "I love my job but it's time for me to take some time."
Yesterday started out routine -- no thought of retirement in sight. He was having a coffee and checked his regular numbers: "I could not believe it. I was shaking and my blood was pumping."
But there was a catch -- the ticket was still inside the Lucky Discount Variety near his shop. "Something told me to go in there the night before," he said. "I know the attendant and told him to play my regular numbers, which I have only played five times this year. I always just leave the ticket there."
It was at 7 a.m. when he realized he'd won so it was a long wait until the store opened at 8 a.m.
It certainly made for a different kind of day at the butcher shop. "So many people said to me they were happy it was me."
This morning they'll be happy to know they will also share in the win of the rich, generous and loyal butcher named Joe.
cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/03/28/5129051-sun.html
