August 1, 2007 Migrant worker wins $1 million, keeps working By Tasha Kates APPLETON, N.Y.— Guillermo Reyes has been playing the lottery for a long time, and it finally paid off this month. A $20 scratch-off ticket turned out to be Reyes’ ticket to $1 million, which will be paid out in $50,000 increments for 20 years. It would be easy enough for Reyes, who has 13 children and 23 grandchildren, to stop working altogether. But Reyes and some of his family members were still picking cherries Thursday afternoon at Singer Farms. “I’m working more,” Reyes said through a translator. Reyes has been migrating from Quitupan Jalisco, Mexico, to the United States for about 30 years. For more than 10 years, Reyes has spent his summers at Singer Farms. Farm owner Jim Bittner said his dedicated worker spends time at his family’s dairy farm in Mexico for the rest of year. “He comes up here to make extra money,” Bittner said. Reyes is planning to take a week or two off work to go back to Mexico. He is trying to get a ticket with as few stops as possible before reaching Guadalajara; Reyes speaks very little English. What Reyes will do with the money won from his $500,000,000 Extravaganza ticket remains to be seen. “I don’t know yet,” Reyes said. There was talk of purchasing a house in New York, although Reyes said those plans will be on hold for a few years. |