A Virginia grandmother has shocked lottery officials and inspired the nation by donating her entire $150,000 Powerball prize to three charities. Carrie Edwards of Midlothian, Virginia, won the prize on a Powerball ticket purchased at a local grocery store and immediately committed every cent to causes close to her heart.
Edwards matched four of the five white ball numbers plus the red Powerball in the September 8 drawing. Because she had selected the “Power Play” option, her winnings tripled from $50,000 to $150,000. The numbers were suggested by artificial intelligence—Edwards said she asked ChatGPT to generate her ticket selection. Days later, she received a notification to claim her prize and at first assumed it was a scam.
Instead of using the money for personal gain, Edwards chose to divide the winnings equally between three nonprofit organizations. The first was the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, in memory of her late husband who passed away from the disease. The second recipient was Shalom Farms, a Richmond-area ministry focused on providing fresh produce and agricultural education to low-income communities. The third was the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, which supports military families—a cause personal to Edwards as the widow of a Navy veteran.
In a press statement, Edwards said she felt compelled to give it all away, stating she had already been richly blessed and wanted others to benefit. “I’m just the steward,” she said, explaining her motivation to bless others as God had blessed her.
Her decision stands as a rare act of generosity in a culture often driven by personal enrichment. Instead of viewing the unexpected lottery windfall as an opportunity for indulgence, Edwards treated it as a calling to support faith-based service, community outreach, and military families.
