FEATURE: Lottery Winner Of The Month (August 2014)

September 14th, 2014   ·   Read Comment...

Lottery Winner Wants To Remain A Chicken Farmer

Ask different people why they want to win the lottery and you’ll most likely get as many answers as the number of people you ask. People just are not the same; they have different reasons for wanting to get their hands on fabulous riches that only winning the lottery can usually legally provide.

There are people who want to retire as soon as they strike it rich; a recent winner from England retired along with his best mate after winning the lottery big time. There are other people who are not so careful with their money; they spend their winnings on travel, fast cars, and all manner of luxury till they find themselves once again penniless. Some winners don’t really need the money so they give all their winnings away. And some really sensible winners like Jeff LaBar use their winnings to pursue the kind of life that makes them happy – and that does not necessarily mean wallowing in luxury.

Jeff and Chickens

The Rocky Road To Riches

Life has not always been easy for LaBar, and he had experienced more than his fair share of trials early in life. He had served his country by enlisting in the Navy when he was a young man. When he got out of the service, however, he ran with the wrong crowd and became addicted to drugs. From there he slid further downhill and became a drug dealer.

When he was caught, he was sent to prison for 10-20 years but was released after seven. It was then that he sobered up and became religious. He struggled then as former friends would not have anything to do with him. Luckily he always had the support of his family, and then he also met Heidi at church.

He married Heidi and they settled in a house they built onto an old barn right next to his mother’s house; his brother lives just across the street.

He started farming chickens which is something he had always wanted to do, even when he was a kid. But chicken farming does not provide enough income in a small town where almost everyone had chickens of their own, so he worked at other jobs.

Whilst working as a lineman for an electric company he got hit by a truck. When he recovered, he was let go by the company. Of late he was working 12-hour shifts at the local lime plant at night while farming chickens during the day. Still just a few months ago his house was almost foreclosed.

The Tide Turns

Through all the hardship, LaBar never forgot to dream, to pray, and to play the lottery. In his prayers he asked for the ability to leave his job at the lime plant and just farm chickens for the rest of his life. It was a modest prayer that he hoped would be answered one day.

Then in the Spring, he thought that his dreams had come true. He and a store clerk thought he had won a million dollars, and were already jumping up and down with joy and excitement. But they soon realised the win was only for a hundred dollars – that time.

A week or so later he stopped at the gas station on the way to work and purchased a Lotto 47 ticket and promptly forgot about it. Even when word spread that someone from their town of Manistique had won a $3.3 million jackpot, he never thought to check. Only when prompted by his brother did he look at his ticket and discovered that his financial troubles had suddenly been wiped out. Just like that he was a millionaire. The first thing he did was fall on his knees to say a prayer, more likely to express gratitude rather than ask for anything else.

Determined To Live The Life He Wants

LaBar has always had simple dreams; he just wants to be a chicken farmer. Aside from that, he is so used to being financially strapped that he fears any sudden change in lifestyle.

One change that is almost sure to happen involves giving up his second job at the lime plant. The lump sum payment of $2.1 million he chose, though almost halved by taxes is still more than a million dollars. That should be enough to see him through life, especially as he is not about to give up farming chickens.

And that is what is most admirable about LaBar: he knows what he wants to do and will use his new found wealth to fund it. After all, if you condense all of the reasons people have for wanting to win lottery millions it all boils down to being financially able to do the things they want to. And for LaBar, that can only be farming chickens.

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Your Comments ↓

  • Danny

    I don’t think I’d choose the chicken route – but I totally get the ‘doing what you love’ thing. I’d dump my job in a heartbeat and spend all day fixing up old cars instead. I could happily do that till they put me in the ground 🙂

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