Nancy Maack is Presented with California Lottery's Hero in Education Award

07.28.2001
Nancy Maack is Presented with California Lottery's Hero in Education Award

SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery's "The Big Spin®" show airs Saturday, July 28, 2001, in twelve television markets statewide. Contestants on this week's show won a total of $142,500.

Alta Dena resident Nancy Maack was awarded California Lottery's "Hero In Education" award. Maack has been a parent volunteer for 18 years at Burbank Elementary School in Alta Dena. From serving as PTA President to volunteering her time teaching kids about Fine Arts to raising money for literacy programs, Nancy has shown unending devotion to Alta Dena school kids. Her commitment to literacy was recently highlighted when Nancy relocated the library from the corner of the auditorium to a refinished basement and converted it to a fully functioning learning center, complete with computers. Maack is also involved with a program called "Destination Imagination." Maack explains, "It is an ability for children to 'think out of the box.' You give children a task and they have to solve it in a set time limit. As a coach, you just encourage them but they have to do all the thinking."

Actor Freddy Rodriguez, who currently stars as Federico in the HBO Original Series "Six Feet Under" presented Maack with the "Hero In Education" award for her outstanding contributions to education.

"Twice As Grand" contestant, John Magro of Victorville, will progress to the final round of play for a chance to win $2,000 a week for 20 years; winning a total grand prize of over $2 million. Magro, a retiree, said, "I'm going to travel with the money I win." On this week's show, six contestants competed in the first preliminary round of the game moving simulated racecars along a racetrack. Of the six, one contestant, Magro, moved on to the final round of play. Other "Twice As Grand" contestants won a combined total of $17,500 with prizes ranging from $2,500 to $25,000.

Nellie Jones, from Oxnard, playing the Fantasy 5 Dream Machine for the first time. Jones explained that her husband has been sending in Fantasy 5 coupons for years now, some with her name on them and some with his name. When the coupon was drawn, it was Nellie's name that appeared on it! With her prize, she exclaimed, "I'll give my husband $1,000 for stamps and then we are going on a cruise!" Jones won $65,000.

Kristi Bishop, a housewife from Clovis bought a "Big Spin" Scratchers® ticket, which revealed three "SPIN" symbols on one ticket, that ticket entitled her to a direct trip to the prize wheel. Once at the wheel, Byrd won $60,000. Bishop plans to share her money with her family, she explained, "My grandmother bought the tickets for us and we all scratched them together on Easter Sunday. We decided then that if we won anything, we would split it between the seven of us." Specifically, Bishop plans for all of them to go on a family reunion vacation.

The California Lottery sells its products through a network of more than 18,000 outlets statewide. The Lottery provides 52.7 percent of its revenues to players as prizes, 34.1 percent to public schools and 13.2 percent for administrative expenses, which includes 6.9 percent for retailer commissions. Since 1985, the Lottery has raised more than $12 billion for public schools. The California Lottery's contribution equals approximately 2 percent of the state's total education budget. "The Big Spin®" is the longest running Lottery game show in the country, airing continuously since 1985.

NAME CITY AMOUNT

Kristi Bishop Clovis $60,000

Nellie Jones Oxnard $65,000

Other California Gold Winners $17,500

TOTAL $142,500

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2001 3rd Quarter Press Releases: Article