Powerball Winners Don & Joyce Harvey

NOT GIVING UP ON HIS JOB

Don Harvey, aged 64, has been a truck driver since he was 17. His current rig has done nearly two million miles and actually broke down on the way to the lottery commission. He is not giving up work, “I’ve got to have something to do. I can’t go fishing all the time and I don’t play golf.” Joyce Harvey, aged 50, added, “He’ll quit when I pry his cold, dead hands from the wheel.” Joyce works in her husband’s business as a dispatcher.

Don and Joyce Harvey travelled to the Oklahoma Lottery Commission Headquarters in Oklahoma City. Following their life changing Powerball results they have decided to take the cash payout of $46,837,771, which amounts to $33,254,815 after federal and state taxes. The Harvey’s chose their winning Powerball numbers at Shell Station at 124 Ray Fine Blvd, Roland which is about six miles from Muldrow where they live.

On their way to Oklahoma City to collect a dummy cheque for their Powerball prize, the Harvey’s popped into the Shell Station where they had bought their Powerball tickets. “I asked the girl if they had had some excitement the day before,” Joyce said, “She said someone had won the Powerball and hadn’t claimed it. She said, ‘If they don’t claim it, I’ll claim it myself.’ I laughed and told her that was a good idea.”

Joyce said that it was a fluke that the numbers she chose were the ones to come up in the Powerball results. They have always used the same numbers but a couple of draws before, she had accidently put down the wrong numbers. She decided that she would use these same numbers for this draw and they turned out to be the winning Powerball numbers. The Harvey’s will continue to play the lottery as they believe the proceeds help a lot of people – education and the elderly in particular.

HOW THEY FELT

Joyce Harvey said the she checked the Powerball results online and looked in “disbelief and shock.” “Basically I just broke down and cried,” she said. Joyce then asked Don to double check and he confirmed they had the winning Powerball numbers. Joyce said, “When we bought a lottery ticket, we used to call it our dream ticket. We’d buy a ticket and dream about what we’d do with the money. Then you would see someone else win, and you’d start all over again.”

The Harvey’s seem content with their lives despite their Powerball prize saying, “we are pretty satisfied with our life and don’t expect things to change much.”

HOW WILL POWERBALL WINNERS DON AND JOYCE HARVEY SPEND THEIR PRIZE

The Harvey’s intend to pay off their debts and then help their family and friends. Don Harvey is going to buy a second hand rig. When asked why he wasn’t buying a new one, he said a second hand one doesn’t depreciate the minute you drive it away.

Joyce Harvey belongs to the Cherokee Nation and has always been most concerned about the prevalence of diabetes among American Indian children in the rural areas. The Harvey’s therefore plan to use some of their Powerball prize to donate money to the University of Oklahoma Medical Centre, so that they can buy a mobile research unit which will be equipped to go out into the rural areas and study children with diabetes and hopefully, come up with a solution to this ongoing problem. As Joyce Harvey said,

“It’s a blessing we are able to help people. Children are our future.”