Andersons work to ‘stay grounded’ with $10 million

Published 3:51 pm Saturday, April 17, 2004

HERMISTON – When Donna Anderson won her $18.2 million from Oregon Megabucks almost a year ago, her first priority wasn’t buying a new wardrobe or fancy cars.

Anderson and her husband, retired Hermiston Police Chief Andy Anderson, wanted to keep it real.

“We agreed that we wanted to stay grounded, and we wanted the kids to stay grounded,” she said. “We wanted to live the same down-to-earth lifestyle.”

And so far, it’s worked, Anderson said.

Donna, who’s played Megabucks weekly since its inception in 1985, purchased her weekly Megabucks ticket on a whim from Heller & Sons Distributing last April, just a few hours before the drawing.

She chose her regular favorite numbers: 7, 17, 27 and 34. But they weren’t the numbers that won her the dough.

She also spent a little extra and used the “quick pick” method to have the computer select the winning combination: 10, 15, 17, 35, 36 and 44.

The family receives its $10 million after taxes in installments. It’s the third-largest Megabucks win in the state.

Anderson now serves as the vice president for Lottery Winners Association, and was featured on the cover of the association’s inaugural magazine released a couple of weeks ago. The Lottery Winners Association brings together a group of lawyers and investors to give advice to lottery winners on how to best use their winnings.

It took a long time for the family, which includes twins, Melissa and Christopher, to let their winnings sink in.

“When I was making out these checks to pay off the bills we had, I was shaking,” Donna Anderson said. “I had to stand up and walk around, I couldn’t believe it. And then to see once we paid them all off and saw how much we had left over, it was amazing.”

One of the first things Christopher said to his parents was how excited he was to be able to get a new car, Anderson said. He was quickly corrected, saying that the family wasn’t going to just buy new items to replace things that worked fine.

Anderson is still a sales shopper.

“Why are you going to buy something full price when the same thing can be found for half price?” she said.

After the initial award, the family did go on a “shopping spree,” the four each taking $500 and going.

For Donna, that meant buying two pairs of socks, a blouse and groceries for dinner that night, leaving money left over.

“I was used to shopping on a budget,” she said.

The family has a different sort of financial stresses. Instead of Andy sitting in front of a computer tabulating how much longer he was going to have to drive truck for funds to pay for the twins’ college, the Andersons have had to learn how to invest their winnings, how to budget for necessary expenses and for fun, and to make sure they have enough left over just in case.

They make regular contributions to local charities, and still shop as local as possible.

After all, Hermiston is home. They still attend every baseball and softball game the twins play in. Their family is here. Their friends are here.

“We’ve had very few people be jealous of us about this,” she said. “If anything, they’ve been happy for us. They know what we’ve been through. How we’ve had to scrimp and save. They say, ‘if it wasn’t us, I’m glad it’s you.'”

Sure. They’ve already moved into a larger home, purchased Harley Davidsons and have a cruise scheduled for later this year along the Northeast Coast and Canada.

But they refuse to let the money change who they are, Anderson said.

“I’ve had people tell me, ‘You sure don’t dress like a millionaire,'” she said. “How are millionaires supposed to dress?”