Frances Connolly, a former social worker and teacher from Northern Ireland, won £115 million ($145 million) jackpot through the EuroMillions lottery. She said that she had become “addicted” to helping people while working as a social worker, so it’s no surprise Frances used the majority of her winnings to help her community.
Frances set up two charitable foundations, one in memory of her late mother and the other to support local caregivers for elderly people and refugees. At the time of this writing, Frances had donated more than half of her fortune to charity.
Her “addiction” is nothing new. Frances has volunteered with St. John Ambulance and was part of an AIDS hotline while studying in Belfast. She believes that money buys the freedom to be the person you want to be. In her case, that’s a person who helps other people in need.
Her largest personal purchase to date was a six-bedroom house on seven acres. Frances and her husband Patrick still live “normal” lives running their plastics business the foundations she established. Her philosophy is simple: “If you can do good things for deserving people, why wouldn’t you just do it? It makes no sense to me to have that kind of money and not use it to do good in the world.”
Watch the video below to learn more about Frances and what she did with her sudden increase in wealth.