CLIVE, Iowa — An Ankeny woman would've missed out on a $20,000 Iowa Lottery prize were it not for a stranger's Facebook post.
With only a few days remaining, Mary Blumer claimed her prize on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
The prize, from a March 23 Mega Millions drawing, was set to expire on Monday, Sept. 23.
"I read a post Tuesday night on an Ankeny Facebook page saying that somebody had been by the gas station, saw a note posted that somebody had won $20,000 in Mega Millions back in March, and the ticket expires Monday," Blumer told the Iowa Lottery. "So I went to my purse, pulled it out and sure enough, it's my ticket."
She has put lottery tickets in her purse before, and this time forgot about it until the next time she got gas, according to a news release.
But her March 23 ticket went unclaimed.
That's when Anne Rodriguez of Ankeny came to the rescue for Blumer and other lottery players. Rodriguez saw a sign at Kum & Go about unclaimed lottery prizes and posted a picture of it on Facebook, wanting to get the prize winner's attention.
"Are you kidding me?" she said over the phone, according to the Iowa Lottery. "I'm so glad! That was bugging me all week and I just thought, 'I've got to put something on there.' Awesome!"
As a regular lottery player herself, once she saw the sign she knew she had to do something as someone else could lose out on a lot of money. She told the Iowa Lottery she was shocked her post worked.
"I could almost cry! I'm so happy for her," Rodriguez said.
Blumer had her own message for Rodriguez's kind act.
"Thank you, I owe you at least a tank of gas or something! Because without her, I would have never, never looked at those tickets," Blumer said.
Blumer works for a local credit union, but plans to retire soon. She told the Iowa Lottery she will use some of the money to start savings accounts for her grandchildren.
She bought her ticket at Kum & Go, 165 SW Magazine Rd in Ankeny.
Mega Millions prize winners are required to claim claim their winnings withing 180 days of drawing.
