RALEIGH – Greenville resident Sam Hardy, a retired mail room supervisor at East Carolina University, plans to use his $113,736 lottery prize to pay off his auto loan. He matched all five numbers to win a share of the $227,470 jackpot in the Aug. 11 Carolina Cash 5 drawing.

Hardy was at home when he realized he had won.

“I was lying in bed and saw the numbers come across the bottom of the screen,” Hardy said. “It wasn’t until the next morning that I knew how much I won. I called the hotline and they told me I’d won more than $113,000. It felt great, and I got a little nervous. It’s a blessing, nothing but a blessing.”

After taxes were withheld, Hardy received a check for $77,341. The ticket was purchased at the Charlie Grill & Grocery on County Home Road in Greenville.

“I’m going to use some of this money to take a vacation with my wife,” Hardy said as he held his check for the first time. “I’ve been retired for 20 years, but I’m going to enjoy it even more now.”

The other winning Carolina Cash 5 prize from the Aug. 11 drawing was claimed by Saudy Charles of Charlotte.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2011, Pitt County education programs received more than $31.7 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 $2.45 billion for these initiatives statewide.