WORKING
BEYOND WINNING

Topics: Dedication; Diligence; Integrity; Meekness; Responsibility; Sacrifice; Self-discipline; Values

References: Colossians 3:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:12–15; Hebrews 12:1

In February 2006, eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant contributed $5 apiece to buy a block of 40 Powerball lottery tickets. The men usually worked sixty to seventy hours a week and earned $9.00 to $10.00 an hour. This group, however, ended up winning the largest jackpot in U.S. history; each person in the pool got $15.5 million after taxes.

Some of the winners did not quit their jobs. David Gehle, for example, arrived at the morning news conference four hours after finishing his overnight shift as a supervisor. He said that if he had not worked, the plant would have been short of help. “We couldn’t just leave ’em in a bind,” he said.

Gehle then shocked reporters by stating that he would report to his 10:00 p.m. shift later that evening and politely asked them not to seek interviews at his home, saying, “I need to get some sleep.”

—Jeff Zeleny, “Powerball Winners Go from Meatpacking Plant to Life as Millionaires,” Chicago Tribune (February 23, 2006)