RALEIGH – Cathy Kim of Raleigh thought she was dreaming when her husband awakened her on the morning of May 17 to tell her that they had just won the $110,896 Carolina Cash 5 jackpot.

“It was 2:30 in the morning,” recalled Kim. “He said, ‘Babe, we won. Don’t scream. I think we got the Cash 5.’ I said, ‘Whatever. Let me sleep.’ He said, ‘Really, I think we won.’”

Unconvinced, Kim got up and went to her computer to check. Kim said she couldn’t believe it when it turned out that their favorite combination of quick pick and “dream” numbers - 1 - 4 - 9 - 16 – 25 – did indeed match all five white balls in the May 16 drawing.

“Even though I played the numbers, I never dreamed that I was going to win the lottery – the big one like this,” said Kim, noting that she only plays Cash 5 when the jackpot surpasses $100,000. In January, Kim won $5,000 playing Carolina Pick 4.

Kim bought the lucky ticket at the Grocery Boy Jr. Citgo on New Hope Church Road in Raleigh. She received a check for $75,409 after state and federal taxes were withheld. Kim said she plans to use the money to visit her parents in New York and to start a savings account for her young daughter.

Ticket sales for games such as Carolina Cash 5 have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.8 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Wake County education programs received more than $189.4 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.