LIME US$1m winner: ‘I’m keeping my job!’

After one conversation with Lucille Worrell, the 27-year-old who recently won US $1 Million in LIME’s 2008 Christmas Promotion, you literally feel that it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.{{more}}

The Caribbean’s newest millionaire is a hard-working, single-mother who says her first priority is to give back to her family and her community and insists that her newly found wealth won’t change her “down-to-earth” personality.

“My goal is not to change,” she says. “I’m a very down to earth person and I’m very easy going. My financial status is going to change but not my personality. I hope and pray that I remain the same.”

Staying grounded is important to Lucille who says her focus is on home ownership and planning for her young son’s education. “I have a two year old son and the most important thing is his education, so I’m going to put money aside for that, and then, since I don’t have my own home, I’m going to invest in a house,” she says.

And with her windfall, Lucille also plans to fulfil a long-time dream and treat her mother to a luxurious vacation. “My Mom has been so good to me over the years and I’ve never been able to treat her to a vacation, so I’m going to send her on a cruise so she can just relax,” Lucille says, her voice brimming with excitement.

As a special treat for herself, Lucille’s first significant purchase was a brand new Suzuki Vitara. The purchase was particularly sweet as prior to her big win she had not been able to find a vehicle she could afford. “I was looking for something but couldn’t get anything in my budget and then all of a sudden I was able to buy something really nice.”

Another previously distant dream that might soon become a reality for Lucille is pursuing tertiary education. “I’ve always been interested in business management, so I think I’m going to pursue my studies in that field but I plan to go to the local university because I don’t want to leave my son,” she says.

Lucille’s community, Fondcole, which is just outside the Dominican capital, Roseau, is also high on her agenda. “We don’t have things like a basketball court or a sports field and a lot of our young people are idle, and really and truly I hate to see that. I am thinking about how I could help and hoping I might be able to do something in collaboration with the government,” she says.

While she is looking to upgrade her skills in the future, Lucille says she has no plans to quit her job at Western Union, where she started as a Front Line Associate and was recently promoted to Supervisor. “I’m going to keep my job,” she says with a mischievous laugh. “I really think I have an obligation to the company that hired me and allowed me to pay my bill to LIME so that I could win what I have now.”