Raffle winner turns down $30,000 prize
Story and photo by Tiffany Woods
Rotary International News - 4 December 2007
What would you do if you won US$30,000? For Marc Jacobson, the answer was easy: Give it back.
Jacobson bought the winning ticket in an annual charity raffle sponsored by the Rotary Club of Northbrook, Illinois, USA. When Joe Cavolick, the club member who sold him the ticket, called with the news, Jacobson immediately said, "Donate it back."
"Marc, the prize is a new car or $30,000," Cavolick told him. "Why don't you take a few minutes and give me a call back?"
Jacobson, 43, consulted with his wife, Lauren, and phoned Cavolick. "Joe, I don’t take money from charities," he told him.
Jacobson, who owns a financial services company in Northbrook, says he's been buying raffle tickets from Cavolick, a client of his, for five years. The club sells 800 tickets for $100 each and gives the proceeds to scholarships and local charities. Jacobson, who is not a Rotarian, is the second person to turn down the grand prize.
The club honored the Jacobsons for their generosity at a weekly meeting in November. "I believe donating money has always felt much better than [keeping] found money. This is found money," Marc Jacobson said before the event.
Jacobson says he's looking forward to buying a raffle ticket next year. He already knows what he'll do if he wins.