Crumptons: ‘This makes a huge difference for our family’
HATTIESBURG, MISS. – A Hattiesburg couple was shocked when they got the call informing them that they were the winners of $100,000.
Ken and Alison Crumpton were out of town with their children when they received a call from United Way of Southeast Mississippi CEO Tracie Fowler telling them their ticket had just been selected during United Way’s $100K Payday Raffle event March 15 at Patio 44 in Hattiesburg.
“We were on vacation for Spring Break with my wife’s family when Tracie called to let us know. I remember I kept asking her, ‘Are you serious?’ and Alison was jumping up and down screaming in the background. It’s definitely a moment we will never forget,” said 39-year-old Ken Crumpton.
The Crumptons, who own Crumpton Insurance Agency in Hattiesburg and Taylorsville, have been participating in the charity raffle for the past four years. This year, they took advantage of the “buy three tickets, get one free” special, and it clearly paid off. Crumpton said when they heard the news, they had an “excitement beyond words. We’d never won anything before.”
“It’s a good way to help the United Way with a chance to win a lot of money,” Crumpton said about their decision to enter the raffle each year.
He said it feels great knowing their participation in the raffle will also help make a positive impact in the community.
“I’ve [volunteered] for United Way, so I’ve seen firsthand how much this does for the organization.”
This year’s raffle fundraiser brought in the most ticket sales since United Way of Southeast Mississippi has been holding the $100K Raffle.
“There’s always a little bit of anxiety for us leading up to the end of our raffle about whether we will make any profit, and once again after navigating a pandemic there was a lot of pressure for our organization to make sure this year’s raffle was a success,” said Fowler.
Behind the fall workplace campaign, the Payday Raffle is the largest source of revenue for the nonprofit.
“Proceeds from every single ticket sale go back into the community by way of grants to our nonprofit partners and programs that we support. So whenever a ticket is purchased, the impact of that ripples throughout our local communities, helping to create better education, health, economic mobility and support service opportunities for everyone in need,” said Fowler.
She added, “We know there’s always going to be a bit of disappointment for the participants who don’t win the Grand Prize, but we hope they know how grateful we are to them for taking part in this cause and that it brings some satisfaction knowing their ticket purchase is helping thousands of people throughout the year.”
As for how the Crumpton family plans on using their winnings: “With three boys at home, we will probably use it on grocery bills,” Ken Crumpton joked.
“In all seriousness, we are still figuring out what we are going to do. We are going to try and save the majority of it - maybe for the kid’s college funds - and use the other for projects on the house that we’ve been talking about doing for a while. With three young kids and owning our own business, this makes a huge difference for our family.”
