Meet the winner of Mater Prize Home lottery No.286

Long term Mater Prize Home supporters Augie and Tina were understandably in shock when Tina received the call to tell her they were the first prize winners of Mater Prize Home Lottery 286 at Palm Cove in Far North Queensland.

Augie, Tina’s husband, said that the whole experience was surreal. “Tina sent me a text.  She’s not very good at sending text messages, so I thought she had said she won a prize for cleaning a house.  She was a cleaner for the Council, not in anyone’s house, so I was very confused, but thought, good on her!  She then phoned me and told me the whole story – we were obviously very excited but honestly, we felt a little numb!”.

“This win is definitely life changing – Tina had a really tough job as a cleaner so now she has retired, and I can see how much happier she is.

When telling people about the win, he says “Tina got out of bed at 3.30am, had a shower, did her hair and spent the day cleaning toilets but by the time she got home that same day, she was a millionaire!”

When asked why they support Mater, Augie said, “Our main reason for choosing Mater is to help to fund Cancer research – most people suffer from some form of cancer or another, and you never know if it will be you.  The Government can’t give enough for research, so it’s important to find a cure if we can”.  “Tina has supported Mater for a long time.  We decided to find some good things to support, and one was Mater.  We have a small amount of ‘discretionary’ money, and as a Mater VIP member, the money just comes out and we don’t even notice it”.

“We wanted to pick charities that we felt were worthwhile and could do the most for the community and in our opinion, Mater is one of these.”

While Tina is in a happier place, Augie tells us he is not planning on retirement anytime soon.  “I like my job.  I’m the oldest, tallest, best looking and most modest train driver in WA”. Being 76 (77 in September) Augie has to have a medical every year to allow him to continue to work.  “I know that one day they will not allow me to work, so I’ll retire then” he says.

As for the future, Augie says “We’ll continue to travel and enjoy the freedom that this win has given us, but we will definitely continue to support Mater through the Mater Prize Home tickets”.

You could be next!