Anybody who dreams of winning the lottery knows exactly how they’ll spend the money. Some will buy flashy cars, others will buy a mansion, while many vow to give some of their fortune to their favorite charities.
One lucky Frenchman, who won a record-breaking $217 million EuroMillions lottery jackpot, opted to do good with nearly all his prize in a bid to save the environment.
The winner, known only as Guy, won the eye-popping sum in 2020, and decided to use all the money to create a nature foundation called Anyama, named after a town in Cote d’Ivoire, where he spent part of his childhood.
In an article that appeared in this week’s Le Parisien, Guy told the publication that “the priority today is saving the planet.”
“We must act,” he said. “It is an absolute emergency. If nothing is done in this regard, all other actions will be in vain. We will no longer exist.”
He said that the moment he realized that he was a winner, he had no doubt that the money would be put to good use.
“I had the will to share my luck,” he recalled.
At the time of Guy’s win, it was the largest jackpot in the history of EuroMillions. Since then, another French player has won a bigger amount of $239 million, beating his record.
