Store Owners Share Plans After Selling Winning Powerball Ticket
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PRINCETON, TX (CBSDFW.COM) - When Chandra Siwakoti got to work early Thursday morning to open his Apple Tree Food Mart in Princeton, he didn't know why so many cameras were aimed at him.
"No idea," said Siwakoti, who owns the store with his wife. "I was surprised. So many media."
Three big winners will split the $564 million Powerball jackpot, and Siwakoti and his family get a million bucks just for selling the winning ticket. "So excited. I cannot believe (this) myself," said Siwakoti.
It all began to sink in as lottery officials arrived to post signs declaring Appletree Food Mart the luckiest place in Texas. Soon regular customers like Isabel Vazquez were buying tickets hoping for lightning to strike twice in the same place. "It can happen. It can happen again," said Vazquez.
Sam Barrow says the only reason he showed up was to see if the new millionaire owner would be sharing the wealth. "If I won that kind of money, I'd be giving away free gas, soda pop, or something," said Barrow.
It turns out Siwakoti, a native of Nepal is a lot more ambitious with his generosity than free soda pop.
"Maybe I'm going to help in Nepal. It's a poor place. I'll build something," said Siwakoti, who later expanded on that and said perhaps he'd build a small school.
"We can help a lot of people in Nepal for the education and many people that need help," says wife and co-owner Smriti Acharya.
Asked if he wouldn't splurge just a little on himself, Siwakoti said, "What you can buy? I have enough. I'm living. I'm eating. That's okay, but at least I can give an opportunity to help to Nepal or some poor country, you know, something."
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