Linza Ford (pictured), a 19-year-old Brooklynite who had to drop out of college and work to help her family makes ends meet, won a $1 million jackpot this week, the New York Daily News reports. She was one of ten New Yorkers who won a share of $13 million in winnings.
Ford had just finished her freshman year at Hofstra University when her father had to go on disability, forcing her family to make tough choices. “I didn’t want to leave,” she said. “That’s one of the colleges I really wanted to go to. I was sobbing.”