Mystery church just hit the $430M Powerball jackpot, too

The winning family said they will tithe 10 percent of the winnings to their church

LAWRENCE -- Some lucky New Jersey church is a winner in the $429.6 million Powerball drawing, too.

Among the plans the winning family has for the big payout is to share a portion of the jackpot with their church, a family representative told media on Friday when they came forward to claim the prize.

"Absolutely. Absolutely," Valerie Arthur, spokeswoman for the Smith family, said after being asked if the family will tithe 10 percent of its winnings to their church.

Arthur, the oldest of seven children born to Pearlie Smith of Trenton, wouldn't reveal the name of the church.

Meet the Smith family, winners of the $429M Powerball jackpot

"There's a lot of people, a lot of different organizations that we've been thinking about that we really, really want to seed into or help," said Arthur, who retired in August as an administrator at the Edna Mahon Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County.

All eight family members - who had the only winning ticket - will share the jackpot. They chose the lump sum payment of $284 million, which comes to about $204,480,000 after taxes have been deducted.

Arthur said the winning numbers 5-25-26-44-66 and the Powerball number 9 had no familial significance such as a birthday or anniversary. Instead, they came to her mother in a dream, she said.

"Divine intervention gave us the numbers," Arthur said. "That's the only way you can explain how the numbers were chosen. No birthdays. No anniversary dates."

As a family that's used to giving back to the community, they'll use a portion of their winnings to continue that practice, she said.

"It was like an affirmation from God because we each have dreams that we want to fulfill in this life, do for our community and do for each other and our families," Arthur said. "And it was like, well, we have been funded to do that. That's what we are going to do - work in our communities and work in our family."