RALEIGH – Earlier this month, Desire Kilmer of Cottekill, New York came to Wake County to visit her father. Before heading back to the Empire State, she bought a $1 Carolina Cash 5 ticket at the Variety Pic-Up on N.C. 97 in Wendell.

Kilmer didn’t think about the ticket again until a week later when her dad telephoned to ask if she had checked the numbers. She discovered her ticket was the only one to match all five numbers in the May 18 drawing to win the $203,658 jackpot. She was speechless.

Kilmer returned to North Carolina to collect her after-tax winnings of $138,487. She arrived at lottery headquarters with her father Tuesday morning feeling grateful.

“It’s nice to know I can give back to my family to show my appreciation for what they’ve done for me my whole life,” Kilmer said.

Kilmer’s plans for her prize money included the long-term purpose of saving for her son’s college education. She also had an immediate purchase in mind: Kilmer said she was going to take her dad out for a steak lunch.

Since the lottery began through June 30 of last year, Wake County education programs received more than $145.8 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.35 billion for these initiatives statewide.