Bruins fans donate Jackpot to Western Massachusetts Tornado victims

This is the kind of people that make BOSTON the special place it is.....BRAVO ZULU to
Steve & Joyce Eby of Braintree, MA for showing what world class fans there are in Boston.....awesome.

Glad to be able to share along some good news for a change.....GO BRUINS !!


Bruins fans use jackpot score to help victims of tornado
By O’Ryan Johnson - Boston Herald
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 -

A bighearted Braintree couple had no trouble figuring out how to spend a $10,000 windfall from Monday’s 50/50 Bruins raffle — they swiftly donated the entire jackpot to the Red Cross to help the twister-ravaged areas in and around Springfield.

“Once we got in the car and the shock wore off, we agreed: We can’t keep this money,” said Joyce Eby, 48. “It’s not like we couldn’t use it ourselves, but I feel like it wouldn’t be right. I feel like this is supposed to go to the Red Cross to help these people. It’s a crazy world. We get snow. We don’t get tornadoes. We need to help each other. These are our neighbors. And who’s better than the Red Cross?”

Season ticket-holders Eby and her husband Steve, 47, were looking for a way to help the tornado victims in western Massachusetts when she took the last $10 in her purse and bought the charity raffle ticket at the Stanley Cup finals on Monday.

“We haven’t missed a game yet in the playoffs,” she said. “So last night I felt this need to get up. I really felt compelled to buy these tickets.”

In the so-called 50/50 raffle, fans buy a ticket and half the cash goes to charity, with the other half going to the winning ticket-holder. The Boston Bruins Foundation, which runs the raffle, has raised $6 million for several charities since 2003, and had planned to give $10,000 to the Red Cross on Monday night.

Now, the Red Cross will get $20,000 thanks to Eby and her husband — who have two kids and their own home repairs under way, but saw a greater need in their neighbors across the state. However, she admitted, regifting the winnings was not completely altruistic.

“We need some good karma,” she said. “We want the Cup!”

ojohnson@bostonherald.com