LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One Kentucky resident woke up $1 million richer Friday after officials drew her name in the state's first 'Shot at a Million' drawing.
Patricia L. Short from the Lexington area was surprised with a huge check Thursday after she and her husband were invited to the Capitol.
Her husband, Gary, said they ignored six calls from the governor's office, thinking it was the scam. When they did arrive in Frankfort, Gov. Andy Beshear and other state officials announced Short was the winner of the state's first $1 million vaccine lottery.
"We didn't have to have [this check] to do the right thing," Gary Short said during the announcement.
"No we didn't, but we still appreciate this," Patricia Short said.
"For them, this is probably the difference in security moving forward into some important years and otherwise struggling, so really special for them," Beshear said.
Beshear also announced the first five students to win full-rides to any Kentucky public college of their choosing. Three students from the area were awarded scholarships, including one senior from Elizabethtown, another senior from Crestwood and a seventh-grader from Louisville.
The student winners are:
- Jalen Crudup from Elizabethtown
- Crystal Frost from Crestwood
- Tyler Henson from Mt. Sterling
- Adison Sullenger from Princeton
- Alex VonderHaar from Louisville
"I feel so lucky and all I did was get vaccinated," Frost, a student at Oldham County High School, said.
"It's crazy to think about," Sullenger, a student at Caldwell County High School, said. "I can now go to nursing school and give back to my community from just getting the vaccine. I can go to school now."
"It means a lot to me to have this opportunity," Crudup, a student at Central Hardin High School, said. "I'm going to try to take full advantage of it.">
All the winners said they had already received the coronavirus vaccine before they knew there was a chance to win scholarship money.
"I wanted to see my grandparents and other people that it just made me feel more safe," Vonderhaar, a rising 7th grader at St. Patrick Catholic School in Louisville. said. "I decided to get it when my mom found the first opportunity and I was like, 'yeah, I'd like to go get it.'"
The governor said more than 2.2 million Kentuckians are now vaccinated, half of the state's population. More than 80% of people 60 and older and vaccinated and 60% of those 18 and older.
According to Beshear, more than 120,000 Kentuckians received at least one vaccine shot since the contest was announced one month ago, and he said he expects to see another rise in vaccinations over the coming weeks as people look for a chance to win money.
"Having a face on it today makes it really personal," he said. "It's not just some surreal shot."
Beshear said people who entered the first drawing but did not win will still be entered for the second and third drawings later this summer. The next deadlines are July 28 and Aug. 25. For more information on the 'Shot at a Million' drawings, click here.
RELATED: 'Shot at a million': Here's how to enter, deadlines and drawing dates in Kentucky's vaccine lottery
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