Two very lucky New Yorkers today promised to give some of their millions of dollars they collected in lottery winnings to help victims of Hurricane Sandy.
“I don’t have a number yet, but I plan on doing something to help people from the hurricane,” said John Cimino, 67, a floral designer from Garden City Park, LI, whose winning ticket scored the stunning $33 million jackpot from the Nov. 2 MegaMillions drawing.
And after helping out some storm victims, Cimino plans to maintain his modest lifestyle, even though he will now be a multi-millionaire.
“I’m really not into luxury things. I’m just happy that I’ll be able to retire,” said Cimino, who elected to take a lump-sum, after-tax payout from the jackpot that totaled $16.4 million, which he collected in a ceremony at the New York Lottery’s Long Island headquarters.
“At a certain point, all I was going to have was my Social Security, and I couldn’t pay my bills with that, so I really didn’t think I could ever retire.”
“But now when the bills come in the mail, I’ll just pay them and that’s that.”
The Brooklyn-born Cimino said he plans to continue working — albeit part-time from now on — at a Nassau County florist shop, keep driving his Toyota Camry and move out of his rental apartment into a modest condo that he plans on buying.
“I’ve been doing this for 40 years,” he said of his occupation as a floral designer — which he returned to doing right after the lottery press conference. “I can’t just walk away from it like that.”
Cimino’s altruism toward Sandy victims was matched by retired US Treasury agent Donald Gilbert, who at his own press conference today at the lottery headquarters vowed to use some of his $1 million second-place Powerball payout to help friends and neighbors from Staten Island who suffered greatly in the superstorm.
“I have friends who lost houses, cars,” said Gilbert, whose payoff came from the Oct. 24 Powerball drawing.
Gilbert said he would use some of the money to “take care of my son and some of my friends who lost a lot and see if I can help them out.” Because he elected to take a lump-sum payout of his prize, Gilbert’s post-tax windfall was $623,040.
Gilbert said he suffered some “tree damage” and “sidewalk damage” to his property, but does not yet know what it will cost to fix that damage.
Asked how he felt when he learned he had a million-dollar winning ticket, Gilbert said, “Surprised.”
“I didn’t expect it. I woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning I went to the office and I usually check the numbers,” he recalled. “I said, ‘no, I must be dreaming.’ “
“I was in shock. You don’t expect to win.”
He was trying his best to keep a low profile at the press conference, wearing a red knit Yankees cap and sunglasses.
“I didn’t want to be here,” Gilbert told reporters after leaving his press conference.
“I have an ex-wife, she’s going to come after [the money]. There are guys I put in jail.”