A Hartlepool woman has donated half of her EuroMillions winnings because she loves to give to good causes.
Francis Connolly, 55, who won the £ 115m EuroMillions jackpot on New Year’s Eve 2019, has already donated £ 11m to charity this year so far, leading her husband Patrick to set a “budget” . Patrick said she was “addicted” to helping others, which she said “made a fuss”.
The former teacher, who is a native of Moira in Northern Ireland but lives in Hartlepool, has donated some money to charity over the next 10 years, but instead threw away £ 11 million as early as 2022. Francis not only donated money to charity in the next 10 years. in cash, but even hosted a charity gala evening that raised £ 100,000.
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Described as a “fairy godmother” in real life, Ms. Connelly told The Mirror: “I can change people’s lives. I’m addicted to it.
“I can change people’s lives every day if I want to. Helping other people and doing something to help other people will lift you up.
“If you can give to others, whether it’s time or money, it’s really important, it gives you a buzz. It’s addictive. I’m addicted to it now.”
For her latest handout, she added: “I paid about 10 or 11 million directly to charity, but I’m not calculating if Paddy finds it. He gave me an annual budget for good causes. We set one this year, I agreed. I have already spent all the money. It should have taken us to 2032. We may need to reconsider it. “
Francis Connelly, 52, and Patrick Connelly, 54, won the £ 115 million EuroMillions jackpot (Image: PA)
She jokes, “People ask, ‘How did you handle that amount of money?’ I say, ‘I’ve never done that.’ He hadn’t been to the bank in two days.
Most recently, Francis donated £ 5,000 to buy clothes and toiletries for Ukrainian refugees and agreed to fund school transport fees for a young asylum seeker after he was forced to move home. The Connolly family also recently bought a caravan for £ 50,000 for young carers.
Francis and Patrick also established the Local Heroes Awards, helping OAP connect with loved ones by donating electronic tablets and providing pajamas and laptops to hospitals during the covid blockade.
The Hartlepool resident has compiled a list of causes to donate, including the Hartlepool PFC Trust and the Irish-based Kathleen Graham Foundation, named after Francis’ mother, who started with donations of £ 1 million. She explained: “If you can do good things for deserving people, why don’t you just do it? It doesn’t make sense for me to have that kind of money and not use it to do good in the world. “
However, Francis did not forget about his family with his initial gift of 60 million British pounds, including their three grandchildren, eight brothers and sisters, 15 nieces and nephews, four great-nephews and nieces, and complete strangers.
Lottery winner Francis Connelly (Image: PA)
In an earlier interview, Francis said: “We decided very early on that our daughters would not receive tens of millions. They get more than anyone else, they have enough to buy a house and live comfortably, but they will have to work for everything else they want. They will get more when we die. We will give the rest to charity. We did not want to hand over loads and loads to them immediately.
Frances said she was proud that her daughters, Katrina, 34, a mother of two, Natalie, 26, a student, and her twin, Fiona, had helped others, just like her and Patrick. Frances joked that Patrick’s first purchase would be an “electric fence and machine gun towers” on their seven-acre property to protect his profits. She added: “He tells everyone that I am the one who does charity, but it’s his money and if he wasn’t happy with what we were doing, we wouldn’t be doing it.
The couple also hosted a gala dinner at Hartlepool College on Saturday and sold Cristiano Ronaldo’s signature shirt, a £ 4,500 diamond necklace from the Boodles, a holiday at a top hotel in Northumberland (complete with Aston Martin) and a holiday in Donegal. go for local causes.
Francis added: “This is an area that needs support. One of the things that makes me most proud is the support we have been able to give to children who simply never rest to take care of their loved ones. Money sets you free to be the person you want to be. I would tell everyone in our situation, “Think of the person you want to be. Money will set you free to be that person. ”
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