Carrie Edwards, a retired public relations executive from Midlothian, Virginia, made headlines not for celebrating her life-changing lottery win, but for her decision to donate her entire $150,000 Powerball jackpot to three charitable organizations. She matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball in the Sept. 8 drawing, with the Power Play option tripling her prize to $150,000. The Virginia Lottery confirmed the windfall, but Edwards immediately decided to give the money to causes that held personal significance: the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD), Shalom Farms, and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS).
Edwards, who used ChatGPT to assist in selecting her lottery numbers, described the selection process as a combination of intuition and technology. “I’m like, ‘Hey, ChatGPT, talk to me… Do you have numbers for me?’” she recalled. While the AI responded that luck was the only factor, Edwards, who had never played the lottery often, decided to take the gamble. Two days later, her phone notified her of a potential win, leading to the discovery that she had a $150,000 prize. After verifying the win through the Virginia Lottery’s mobile app, she reflected on the opportunity to use the windfall for a greater purpose.
The decision to give away all her winnings was deeply personal. Edwards’ late husband, a firefighter, died from the early-onset dementia associated with frontotemporal degeneration, and her father, Capt. Peter Swanson, a Navy fighter pilot, was remembered for his