Lottery Winners Jacki And Gilbert Cisneros Donate To Scholarship Fund For Pico Rivera Students

A Pico Rivera, Calif. couple who won the lottery last year are giving back to the community where their families have lived for generations.

Gilbert and Jacki Cisneros won $266 million last year from a Mega Millions ticket purchased at a local restaurant.

Now, the pair are donating some of their winnings to give college scholarships to teens at El Rancho High School, the Today Show reports.

Gilbert Cisneros told Today's Ann Curry he was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship that allowed him to get a college education.

"Now that we have the means to do some good, we kind of want to give other students that same opportunity."

The husband and wife philanthropists hope their contribution to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund can help hundreds of students.

WATCH:

Comments

[Widespread Panic]

12:49 AM on 05/22/2011

Awesome! I always said I'd do the same thing if I ever won the lotto. Good for them!

[GlennWatson]

09:30 PM on 05/19/2011

Nice job. I hope they enjoy their money.

[logic-a-go-go]

11:34 PM on 05/17/2011

Inspiring, heart-warming story. Kudos to the Cisneros for passing along their good fortune, where it will really make a difference.

[knotsofast]

07:30 PM on 05/17/2011

Like this one?
http://www.freep.com/article/20110517/NEWS06/110517023/Michigan-man-still-food-stamps-despite-winning-2M?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

[fromdnorth]

07:29 PM on 05/17/2011

I love them...

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

05:51 PM on 05/17/2011

These new philanthropists are showing wealthy businesspeople how they can give back to their community in a meaningful way.

[Tony Chavira]

05:28 PM on 05/17/2011

It's amazing that this is to rare that the news will cover it as an event. Also, it's fantastic that lottery winners are donating their winnings to scholarship funds, but where are all the people who actually make hundreds of millions per year? Clearly not doing their Republican duty of donating to charities (unless it one of of their own, I'm sure).

[BuckoForce]

05:16 PM on 05/17/2011

Nice to see them give back to the community.