We here stories all the time of people winning the lottery and they end up ruining their lives with the money. So when you hear about a self described drug addict winning 70 million it's easy to imagine this ending badly. However CTV reports that when Patty Warden won the millions in 2024 she had been in recovery and determined to not let this blessing turn into a curse.
“There was quite a time where some traumatic things happened to me. Then, I found out I had cancer. And then, when I got better, instead of being smart and picking up my life where it left off, I ended up downtown on drugs. I was homeless for some time, sleeping on a park bench. My mom is who saved me. She never stopped showing me love even when I had no love for her, and after years on the street it finally clicked that I mattered to someone else and needed to get clean".
Patty said the secret to staying off drugs is to focus on others. When you get in your feelings nothing good can come from that, so I spend my time thinking about others and through helping them I find that I'm helping myself.
CTV caught up with Patty a few weeks ago buying peoples groceries for Christmas. Shoppers at the Foodland in Greely were shocked when Patty would hand them $100 gift cards.
One shopper named Marjorie MacKinnon said "That’s amazing. It’s a great gift, but I definitely will pay it forward for somebody. I’m more than happy to accept it, but I really want to give it to somebody who really could use it"!
Patty says this is her entire point. It's just not to give away all of her money, but to give it away in a way that actually inspires many more to join her. "If I gave away 70 million it would do some good for sure for a little while. But if I can use it to get thousands of people to start giving then we might be able to give 700 million, and if their children learn of the mental health benefits of giving we may raise a generation of givers who strengthen our community and makes all people happier".