FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. — An Illinois woman walked into Target on Mother’s Day to buy Pull-Ups for her son. She walked out with a $200 gift card, courtesy of the man who claimed a $768 million Powerball jackpot last month.
Nicole Domitro admitted she was skeptical when she was approached by a man who claimed to be Manuel Franco, a 24-year-old Wisconsin man who won the third-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history. The man, who approached with another person with a cellphone, offered her the Target gift card at the Norridge store, WIFR reported.
"Mama bear was on instant alert but I thought they probably needed help finding the right size diaper," Domitro wrote on Facebook.
When Franco offered the gift card, Domitro remained skeptical (“I was nothing short of hesitant,” she said), even after the man told her he used to work in the grocery department at a Target in Milwaukee.
She asked to take a photograph with him, and Franco obliged.
"I don't watch the news, really," Domitro told WISN. "Unless it's kids' TV, really, so I didn't know there was a Powerball winner."
After leaving the store, Domitro said she called the number on the gift card to verify the amount. It checked out, and then she went online to verify Franco’s identity.
“I … googled ‘Milwaukee Powerball winner’ and saw the face of the sweet kid who blessed our day more than he could possibly know.” Domitro wrote on Facebook.
"I’m sharing this because the world needs more Manuel Francos,” Domitro wrote. “We need to know that, even though the world is full of ugliness and hurt and pain and deceit -- there are also those who are kind, and selfless, and good.”.
Dimitro told WISN that instead of keeping the gift card, she is going to give it to a family she knows.
“It’s not like (they are) a struggling family, but they have a baby coming and we think it would be a very cool blessing for their family,” Domitro told the television station.
Cox Media Group
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