It pays to go to church.
That’s what a Toronto area couple found out when their lottery ticket worth $50 million went missing for months only to be found and returned by a person at their church.
Here’s what HuffPost Canada is reporting: Hakeem Nosiru won the Jan. 17 Lotto Max draw and was one day away from claiming the money when the ticket, which he duct-taped to the inside his wife’s purse for safekeeping, was missing after they attended church. That sparked a frantic search of their Brampton home, with garbage bins being upended and their contents picked through piece by piece, an effort that left Nosiru and his wife empty handed and feeling “miserable.”
But that despair turned to joy after a fellow member of the congregation discovered the ticket and reunited it with them on April 1 — saying “April fools” — a return made possible because Nosiru signed the ticket with their address.
After handing it over to Ontario Lottery and Gaming to prove its authenticity, the couple were awarded their money which they say will go to travel and helping out their four children and five grandchildren.
As for the churchgoer who found the ticket, the Nosirus have only gratitude.
“I just want to say thank you,” Abiola Nosiru said. No word on if the honest churchgoer will be further rewarded.
Mrs. Nosiru did have some advice for anyone fortunate enough to be in her position:
““Please keep your ticket in a safe place and watch it all night,” she told Ontario’s National Post. “And sign it. And if you can tape it to your body like my husband did on that Saturday …. He said whoever wants to take this ticket has to kill me.”
(Photo: OLG)
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