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Port Jefferson Church Pastor Collects $3,000,000 Lottery Prize;

Instant Ticket a Gift from Anonymous Donor

SCHENECTADY, NY (08/27/2008; 1221)(readMedia)-- The True North Community Church of Port Jefferson, Suffolk County, is the "unlikely beneficiary of a most unexpected gift." With those words, Pastor Bertrand Crabbe notified his church's 650 congregants that an anonymous donor had gifted the church with a top-prize winning Ba Da Bling Lottery scratch-off ticket worth $3,000,000.

"Stuff like this doesn't happen to people like us," said the former journalist and youth pastor during a recent service. "The donor asked only that he or she remain anonymous," he added.

Pastor Crabbe, a native of Staten Island, founded the independent Christian church in 2005 as an extension of his education and experience as a youth minister and youth pastor.

"Our congregation has grown considerably in a very short time," he said. "I let our members know of our plans to look for a bigger space just a few weeks ago and received a call from our anonymous benefactor just a few days later," explained the Pastor. "I was floored. I still am."

Lottery records indicate the winning Ba Da Bling instant ticket was purchased on July 19, 2008 at DIP Cards & Gifts on Middle Country Rd. in Middle Island, NY and donated to the church the same day. Pastor Crabbe claimed the winning ticket at the Lottery's Garden City Customer Service Center on July 25, 2008 after conferring with his management team on the best way to use the new found funds.

Pastor Crabbe today accepted the $3,000,000 instant ticket prize on behalf of the True North Community Church during a special check presentation event held at the Eldorado Southern Grille in Port Jefferson, where he and his wife, Jennifer, a social worker at South Shore Speech LLC, and their three children, are regulars.

The $3,000,000 Ba-Da-Bling prize pays out as $150,000 a year, less required tax withholdings, for 20 years. The church will receive a net check totaling $102,225 a year through the year 2028.

"Our plan is to tithe away as much as we can and use what's left each year to help us find a bigger space so we can keep giving back to our members and the community at large," said Pastor Crabbe.

The New York Lottery is required by law to withhold all necessary federal, state and local taxes from all Lottery winners of $5,000 or more. As a non-profit organization, the True North Community Church may file annual refund claims for a portion or all of the taxes withheld by the Lottery.

The New York Lottery contributed nearly $2.6 billion to help support education in New York State on revenues of $7.549 billion in fiscal year 2007-08 - - a profit margin of 34.3%. The New York Lottery continues to be North America's largest and most profitable Lottery, earning over $34.2 billion in education support statewide since its founding over 40 years ago.

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