RALEIGH – Ralph Fernandez, an Army veteran from Harnett County who served in the Iraq War, has added winning the lottery to his life experiences. Friday, he won $200,000 playing a $5 instant ticket.

On his way to picking up his son from school, Fernandez stopped for gas at the Lakes County Store on Buffalo Lake Road in Sanford. There, he purchased and scratched off an Extreme Green ticket to win the top prize.

“The guys who work there were like ‘What’s going on?’ and I said, ‘I just won $200,000.’ It was great,” Fernandez said.

After signing his son out of school, he wasted no time heading to lottery headquarters to collect his winnings.

“Yeah, I would say I’m having a pretty good day,” Fernandez said as he claimed his prize money.

As part of his job working for a delivery business, Fernandez provides his own transportation. He said his work vehicle was damaged last year and that his recent good luck meant he would be able to replace it. Fernandez also planned to set aside “a good $20,000” of his winnings, which totaled $136,001 after taxes, for his son’s future.

“It’s just a blessing, really,” he added.

As of Monday afternoon, seven top prizes of $200,000 remain unclaimed in the Extreme Green game. Tomorrow, tickets for another “Green” game will be in stores. Maximum Green, a $10 ticket, will launch with overall odds of winning of one in 3.28 and eight top prizes of $1 million.

Through June 30 of last year, Harnett County players won more than $36.1 million in lottery prizes and Harnett County education programs received more than $23 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.2 billion for these initiatives statewide.