CHARLOTTE -- After working as a preschool teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, for two decades, Joe Camp was laid off in September amid the coronavirus pandemic. A month later, he lost his father.
"It put me in a dark place," said Camp in a news release from NC Lottery. "But I have a lot of friends and family that just told me to keep sticking in there, keep believing in myself."
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But just when he thought life couldn't get any worse, Camp won the lottery.
"Thursday morning, I went to the store and bought a scratch-off ticket like I usually do," Camp said. "And I bought two tickets. I didn't win on the first one, so I tried the second and I scratched it off, and I fell to my knees at the gas pump."
Camp, who is a father and grandfather, won a $250,000 Gold Rush ticket.
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After taxes, Camp claimed $176,876, which he says he plans to use on his family. He says he wants to save for his daughter's education and buy a new home he plans to pass down to his loved ones.
"What I plan on doing with my winnings is having a future for my daughter," he said. "I want to have something for us. I never had anything. No one passed anything down, and that's what I want to do."