Jim Reardon, a Chicago native, recently won one million dollars. Now this is enough money to change a person’s life but Jim decided he would use his winnings to change others lives as well. As the money has helped Jim become more financially stable he has chosen to help out those who were nice and helped him out when he was not having the best of luck.

Renee Glenn is the manager at a local bar that Jim frequents. She has always taken care of Jim so he decided to do something nice for her when he won the lottery. For her kindness, Renee was given a new car.

But Renee was not the only person in Jim’s life to receive a new car. Linda Claiborne was there for Jim when he was down on his luck and needed a job. Linda helped Jim get a job and now Jim got her a new car. Linda commented: "There sits, at the back end of the building, this beautiful white car. I was screaming and I ran around the car. It was beautiful," Claiborne said.

Jim is still the same person he was before his big win, claims friends. He still lives in the same small apartment and still shows up for work and spends his evenings in the local pool hall. Jim has saved some money for retirement as he is only 57 years old.


- 2008-11-21