A lottery winner from Alberta who was among the thousands forced to flee a huge wildfire in Fort McMurray says he plans to give back to charities that helped his family.
Jason Wheeler won $1 million in the July 6 Lotto 6-49 Extra draw.
“We were evacuated from our house during the Fort McMurray forest fires,” he said. “We got a lot of help from the Canadian Red Cross, Food Banks and the SPCA.”
“I want to return the favour,” he finished with a smile.
Wheeler said he discovered he had won the lottery while camping.
“I checked the lottery website when I was sitting around the fire and saw there was a million dollar winner in Alberta,” he said. “I thought, ‘How nice would that be!?’”
The following day Wheeler took his ticket to the store and scanned it.
“I had a few tickets to scan,” he said. “When I got to the big winner I had to put it through the scanner a couple times.”
“I was a little distracted after scanning that one and forgot to check the rest of my tickets,” he said with a laugh.
On top of making a few donations to charity, Wheeler plans to pay all of his bills and help his family.
“This really gives me some peace of mind,” he said. “I won’t have a mortgage, so we have money to fall back on.”
Wheeler said he also wants to buy a golf cart for his campsite.
With files from the Canadian Press
