Chase the Ace Sydney winner 'can't fathom' $2.9M jackpot

Kathy McPherson of Sydney was glad to get to the bank this morning to deposit thecheque for $2.9millionshe won in Saturday's Chase the Ace draw at the Ashby Legion Branch 138.

"I still can't fathom that amount of money,"she said36 hours after her big win.

McPherson, 62, says she's barely slept since the drawand the worry about having a cheque for that amountin the house didn't help.

'Where do we put it?'

"We have a big house, so it's like 'OK, where do we put it?,'" she said. "We said, 'Well, we better sleep with it.'Not that I think anybody would try anything, but, you know, you'renervous having that kind of money laying around."

Kathy and her husband Ron were at the bank first thing this morning to make the biggest deposit of their lives.

"We called the bank first to the lady that we deal with and she was waiting for us when we got there," she said. "We've dealt with that bank for years and people that were in the bank were congratulating us."

Turn off the phones

Congratulations have also been pouring into Kathy's voice mail.

"What I can't understand is, I can't find somebody's cell number but everybody in the world seems to have mine," she said, with good humour, "even people from Toronto that I don't even know. So, it's got to the point where we had to unplug the phones and turn the cellphones off."

• Some locals are spending the bulk of social assistance cheques chasing the ace

• Chase the Ace Sydney charities to get millions of dollars

• Chase the Ace winner pledges $25K for Fort McMurray

McPherson says she and Ron planto carry on as always, "to live normally."They've been renovating their house in north-end Sydney; they'll finish that and stay there.

Family and fire relief

In the short term, they're going to spend some time at their summer place, making decisions on who to help with their windfall, and how.

Their grown son and daughter will benefit, she says, "and the grandchildren. We already have one education [fund] started for the granddaughter but the grandson's there now, so we'll start that, and then of course, we're going to deal with the Red Cross."

The couple hasworked in Alberta on and off for years.

They want to contribute from their winnings to the relief fund for the victims of the wildfire in Fort McMurray.

Retirement

McPherson says she's coming to terms with not having to work anymore.

"It's a great feeling, especially at our age," she said. "Now we don't have to worry. We can pretty much do our retirement thing and it's great.

"I don't have to worry about rushing off, outto Fort Saskatchewan or Fort McMurrayfor the next job, out there freezing your assoff in the middle of the winter in minus 38, 40 degree weather."

Meantime, she says, their long-time neighbours have been nothing but happy for them.

She says she and Ron have always tried to help out people, "especially, people we know."

"We have neighbours over on the next street and they have kids," she explained."Every year, Ron buys them freeziesthrough the summer. The young fella was jumping up and down. He says 'Oh, good, now we'll get the real good freezies,' when he found out we won the money."