A lotto winner had a difficult conversation with her husband about destroying her budget for charitable contributions.
In 2022, Frances Connolly, 55, a resident of Hartlepool in County Durham, donated over £11 million to charitable organizations. It’s about what she had promised to give over a period of ten years.
I get to alter people’s lives,’ said the ex-teacher, who has donated more than half of the couple’s £115 million EuroMillions win. I’m dependent on it.
The winner, who has already donated half of the jackpot, is at odds with her husband because she gave a further £11 million to complete strangers.
Actual ‘Fairy Godmother’ Because Ms. Connolly is ‘addicted’ to helping people, her husband Patrick gave her a ‘budget.’
After organizing a charity banquet that brought in £100,000, she spoke about how charitable giving ‘gives her a buzz.’
I have the opportunity to alter people’s lives on a daily basis, she remarked. Helping others and taking action to help others can make you feel better.
‘It’s incredibly important to give to others, whether it’s time or money; it makes you feel good. It’s compulsive. I’m now dependent on it.’
In just six months, Frances, a former social worker and teacher, has spent money that was set aside for charities over the following ten years.
The simple act of giving brings more joy than a lavish £2 million mansion and an Aston Martin, according to someone who is heartbroken by ‘all the suffering in the world.’
‘I’m at maybe 10 or 11 million paid directly to charity, but I don’t keep a count in case Paddy sees it,’ she adds of her most recent donation.
He provided me a yearly budget for charitable causes. This year, I consented to the one we set. All the money is already gone. It was supposed to last until 2032. ‘We may need to change it,’ People do inquire, ‘How did you manage with that lot of money?’ she laughed.
I declare, ‘I never did. It took two days for it to reach the bank. Frances recently donated £5,000 to purchase clothing and personal care items for Ukrainian migrants.’
And after a young asylum seeker was had to move home, she promised to pay for his transportation to school.
‘Why wouldn’t you just do it if you can do good things for people who deserve it?’ she argued. To have that kind of wealth and not put it to good use in the world defies logic in my opinion.
She was watching TV when she witnessed a Monaco high roller spend £25,000 on a bottle of champagne, and she thought right away that young person might have gotten on the property ladder with that kind of money.
Recently, the Connollys invested £50,000 on a motorhome for young carers.
They established the ‘Local Heroes’ awards, donated electronic tablets to allow OAPS communicate with loved ones, and gave pyjamas and laptops to hospitals during lockdown.
Frances established an Aids helpline as a student in Belfast and began volunteering for St. John Ambulance at the age of nine.
The good-hearted couple, who were once from Moira, Northern Ireland, but now reside in Hartlepool, County Durham, won the lottery on January 1, 2019.
Frances made a list of the persons and organizations she would donate to. With donations of £1 million, two charity foundations—the PFC Trust in Hartlepool and the Kathleen Graham Foundation—named for Frances’ mother—now operate internationally.
The good-hearted couple, who were once from Moira, Northern Ireland, but now reside in Hartlepool, County Durham, won the lottery on January 1, 2019.
The initial £60 million donation went to strangers as well as their three grandkids, eight siblings, 15 nieces and nephews, and four great nieces and nephews.
Frances previously stated in an interview: ‘We decided very early on that our daughters were not going to earn tens of millions of dollars.
‘They received more than anybody else, enough to purchase a home and live comfortably, but they will have to work hard to obtain any other goals they may have.
‘When we pass away, they’ll get more. The remainder will be donated to a good cause. We didn’t want to immediately start giving them a ton of stuff.’
Frances is pleased of her daughters Katrina, a 34-year-old mother of two, Natalie, a 26-year-old student, and her twin Fiona for their charitable deeds.
She quips that Patrick’s initial investment in their spectacular seven-acre property would have been ‘an electric fence and machine gun turrets” to safeguard their fortune.
He claims that I am the one who is doing the charitable work, but since it is his money, we wouldn’t be doing it if he wasn’t happy.
On Saturday, the pair planned a glitzy gala dinner at Hartlepool College.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s autographed jersey, a diamond necklace from Boodles for £4,500, a getaway to a deluxe hotel in Northumberland (equipped with an Aston Martin to explore the region), and a trip to Donegal were all sold at auction. Local causes will receive all of the funds raised.