Large, Sandy-struck family to split $20M lottery prize

Associated Press

BEACHWOOD, N.J.

A lottery-playing tradition started by the matriarch of a large New Jersey shore family paid off for her 17 children this week when the group won a $20 million jackpot that will be used partly to help family members recover from 2012’s Superstorm Sandy.

“I said to myself, ‘This couldn’t have come at a more perfect time,’” Faith Schiabor said, describing a call she received from her sister Sigrid Endreson, who held the winning ticket for the Pick 6 prize. “With Sandy, with the economy today, everybody’s really hurting.

“This is definitely going to help everyone; it’s going to help Ocean County because most of us live here,” she said.

At a news conference at a community center Thursday, jokes and jocularity mixed with some tears as the siblings described their struggle to recover from the widespread damage brought by Sandy to the Toms River area.