IN SHORT
- Gillian and Mark lived in rental properties their whole marriage, unable to afford to buy.
- Still, while they lived paycheque to paycheque, they saved hard to buy an Endeavour Lotteries ticket, as the money goes to a good cause.
- Gillian’s reaction to the lifechanging phone call was priceless.
- And while their new home might have five bedrooms, it was one everyday feature that thrilled Gillian the most!
- Gillian, 63, from Sunshine Coast, Qld, shares their remarkable story…
Taking a bite of my toast, I picked up my phone and went on Google.
I typed in Endeavour Lotteries, then looked to see where the latest prize home was.
The Endeavour Foundation Lotteries sell tickets for people to win a prize package that can include multi-million dollar homes, apartments, luxury cars, caravans and gold bullion.
“Ooh, there’s one quite nearby,” I said, showing my husband Mark, 67.
“Let’s go once we’ve finished brekkie,” he said.
Read more: No cash for bills, then we won $4.2 MILL!
It was a tradition of ours. Every Sunday, we liked to go out for breakfast and then go for a gander around a prize home.
We’d been doing it for decades. We loved having a stickybeak at how the other half live to imagine ourselves living it up in one of those mansions.
Mark worked as a tiler and I worked as a chef in an aged care facility.
We had three grown-up children and five adorable grandkids.
Our whole married life we’d lived in rental properties. We would’ve loved to have owned our own home but couldn’t afford to.
I’d come across Endeavour and the brilliant work they do many years earlier when I’d worked for an indoor cricket company.
They brought some of their clients in to teach them cricket.
I loved how the Endeavour Foundation helped people with disabilities learn new skills to gain employment.
We lived week-to-week financially, but also set aside money in our tight budget to buy the Endeavour lottery tickets each time – roughly every three months.
Even though we knew we were unlikely to win, we had to give it a shot, and besides, the money went to a good cause.
After breakfast, we hopped in our beaten-up Mazda and drove to the Little Mountain area to see the house.
“Welcome, take a look around,” one of the women said, greeting us.
When we stepped into the five-bedroom home, it took my breath away.
“Wow,” I said to Mark, clutching his arm. “This is my dream home.”
I’d had two knee operations so I struggled with stairs, but this house was all on one level.
Everything was gleaming new and so beautifully decorated.
It was a far cry from our three-bed rental. We only had one bathroom and no dishwasher, but it was all we could afford.
After a good look around, we paid our $10 for an entry ticket and then headed home.
Weeks later, I was at work when my phone kept ringing in my office.
It was the lunchtime rush so I couldn’t answer it.
But it kept ringing so I started to get worried.
“Won’t you go and see who keeps ringing me?” I said to my daughter Emma, 37, who worked with me.
Minutes later she came back into the kitchen looking flustered.
“Has someone died?” I asked.
“Nope, it’s a good thing. It was Dad calling, but I’ll let him tell you,” she said.
I had no idea what she was talking about. After lunch, Mark called again.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Are you sitting down?” he replied.
“I am now,” I said.
“Well, we’ve won your dream home,” he said.
Before he could finish his sentence, I swore loudly and hung up on him. My hands were shaking.
By now, Emma had told my colleagues and they all started crowding around me.
I rang Mark back.
“You’re on speaker phone,” I said.
He explained how we’d won the $2.2 million prize home package, including the five-bedroom house we’d seen in Little Mountain, a brand-new Mercedes Benz car and $10,000 gold bullion.
I burst out crying as everyone hugged me and cheered.
We’d never won anything before, except the meat raffle at our RSL.
“You deserve this, darl,” one colleague said.
“Couldn’t have happened to a better couple,” said another.
When I saw Mark later, we collapsed into each other’s arms.
“This’ll change our lives, love,” I said tearfully.
Three weeks later, we met the Endeavour team at the house, where they handed over the keys.
I couldn’t believe I had an ensuite bathroom, something I’ve never had before.
But my absolute favourite thing of all was my very first dishwasher.
No more nights scrubbing away, elbow deep in dirty water when all I want to do is relax after work.
“This is incredible,” I laughed. “Pinch me!”
Emma was going through a separation, so she took over our rental while we moved into our beautiful new home.
We sat on our patio overlooking our pool in our big backyard.
“Cheers,” I said, clinking my glass of bubbly against Mark’s.
“I never would’ve imagined something like this would happen to people like us,” he said.
That first night, I had the best night’s sleep of my life in our huge new bed.
I’ve now given up work so I can be a full-time nanna.
My grandkids are at our place constantly and love splashing around in our pool.
Mark’s still working, but we both feel so much relief to know we don’t have to worry about finances anymore.
Now we have something we can pass down to our kids and grandkids.
We’re taking my 83-year-old mum back to the UK, where she’s originally from, in September to see her sisters.
Mark’s applied for a passport for the first time. He’s never left the country before!
We still enter the Endeavour Lotteries and visit the prize homes because we like to support them.
Every morning I wake up and go into my kitchen.
“Hello dishwasher,” I say happily.
We’ll never take it for granted and are forever grateful battlers like us got our big win!
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