SELINSGROVE - The lottery tickets weren't winners the first time, but they are now as a Northumberland woman uses old scratch-offs and her crafting skill to create and sell holiday decorations to benefit the Needy Family Fund.
Mary Spicer, manager of the Short Stop Mart off Route 522 in Selinsgrove, has a hit on her hands.
Her poinsettia ornaments and decorative wreaths made from discarded holiday Pennsylvania Lottery tickets went on sale Sunday, and as of Tuesday, she and her employees have sold almost $300 worth.
"People have been incredible," Spicer said about the buyers for her wares, some of whom have also donated to the charity without making a purchase. "Just asking can you help us support the Needy Family fund, their eagerness to help is amazing."
Spicer, who has a knack for crafts, thought about what she could make to raise cash for the Needy Family Fund. The used lottery tickets, which she started collecting in November, came to mind.
She checked with the Pennsylvania Lottery agency to be sure reselling a product, so to speak, was OK; it gave its blessing. So did her boss, John Everett, general manager of Short Stop Mart.
"We like to be community-minded as a business," Everett said, "and when our employees take ownership of something like this, we get right behind it with our support."
So much behind it, in fact, that Bob Scullin, president and chief executive officer of Scullin Oil Co., has promised to match whatever amount Spicer raises, all going to the Needy Family Fund. Scullin Oil of Sunbury owns and operates 11 Short Stop Marts in the area.
Scullin said he was at the store recently and saw the wreaths, "and I was so impressed."
He added, "For her to step up and do something like this is amazing. I don't know how long it took her to make that wreath, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was 30 or 40 hours."
"That wreath" is really one of three that Spicer made, each one using about 350 tickets. They are about as big as a car tire, she said. These wreaths aren't for sale but for bid; a silent auction is taking place for the wreaths, the winners to be announced Dec. 17.
The poinsettias -- $1 each or a dozen for $7 -- take
three used tickets to make a piece. They adorn a Christmas tree in the store as well as some other wreaths on sale for $25.
"The biggest fear I have is, can I keep up with demand?" Spicer said.
Three dozen flowers take about six hours to make, and the nine dozen that were on the tree are gone. The Shamokin Dam and Kreamer stores also are collecting used lottery tickets for the project.
"I truly didn't expect the overwhelming support," Spicer said. "That's the great part of it. And I have a wonderful group of girls who stand behind me at the counter and ask people to help support the Needy Family Fund. It's a group effort."
And while the demand is keeping Spicer busy on the supply side, she said she's thrilled at the response to help a charity drive that has touched her heart.
"There is some mother of three, there's someone who is jobless, a family who has lost their home -- in every paper, there is an article of a need," she said. "We need to pay attention to the people around us. We need to reach out and support them."
