Man who won $50 million jackpot plans to give to charities

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Minutes after leaving his home Thursday morning to buy juice, 52-year-old laborer and lifelong Cambridge resident Clifford Turner learned from a convenience store clerk that he had won the biggest Mass Millions jackpot in state history, a windfall worth a staggering $50,343,315.

After years of missing by one or two digits, the inscrutable workings of lottery karma had conspired to change Turner's life in ways he never expected, but had always hoped for. Deep inside, Turner said, he always knew he wanted to do good with a fortune if one ever came his way -- not to splurge on boats, mansions, cars.

In an interview with the Globe yesterday, Turner said his good fortune will enable him to finally donate millions to the types of charities he had only dreamed of starting.

"I just have to do the right thing with the money because that money didn't just come out of the blue," he said. "It came for a reason. It came for what my mother did when we were growing up. I lived in the projects, but I lived like I was rich."

Before he was able to count his blessings, shock, naturally, was the first emotion. The staggering jackpot has unleashed a rush of unexpected emotions, starting with disbelief, he said.

"Oh my God, you're a millionaire," the clerk said Thursday after he ran Turner's ticket through the lottery machine.

"Oh, OK, good," Turner replied, utterly flabbergasted, and left to tell his wife. When he got home, he was still unable to form the words to explain the magnitude of his win to her, and she left for work as usual, he said.

He went to visit a friend instead, just to verify the numbers. Again, a perfect match. He did nothing more, he said, until the following morning at 6 when he telephoned his attorney, Laurence Pierce, a friend he has known for 40 years in Cambridge.

While others might have dreamed of lavish new purchases, Turner was buzzing with inspiration to start charities to combat AIDS, end gang activity, and promote sports and arts opportunities for children in Boston and Cambridge.

The decision, he said, sprung from the values of community and generosity he learned growing up in Jefferson Park, a public housing development with a reputation for being a rough place in decades past.

Story from Boston.com
 

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