Ukrainian immigrant wins $12.6 M in New York Lottery

by Andrew J. Nynka

NEW YORK - New York Lottery Director Margaret R. DeFrancisco announced on January 11 that Ukrainian immigrant Aleksandra Pilyavskaya was the sole winner of the $24 million drawing on December 19, 2001.

The 31-year-old Dnipropetrovsk native, a medical office assistant chose the lump sum option and took home a total of over $12.6 million.

"My family came to America over four years ago," said Ms. Pilyavskaya. "My sister kept telling me to move to America, too. I missed my family very much and decided two years ago that I would move [to the United States]. Winning this money will make things better. I will go to school so I can learn to speak better English. After I learn, I would like to teach others."

Ms. Pilyavskaya said she would not move back to Ukraine, but plans to stay in the United States although she wants to spend some of the money traveling around the world. She also said she wants to send some of the money back to relatives left in Ukraine.

Ms. Pilyavskaya moved to America with her husband, Vladimir, and their daughter, Marina. The couple chose their winning numbers based on their anniversary and birthdays. Their winning ticket was purchased at a newsstand and grocery store in Brooklyn.

As a direct result of Ms. Pilyavskaya's winning the $24 million jackpot, the New York Lottery's Education Wins! program will donate a computer equipment package to Brooklyn's Three Hierarchs School - a randomly chosen school located in the same zip code as the jackpot winner. The parochial school, whose students include Greek, Russian and Ukrainian youths, received a $1,000 credit to use toward basic system items such as monitors and printers, as well as peripherals, including scanners and digital cameras.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 20, 2002, No. 3, Vol. LXX

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