OCEAN CITY – Berlin residents Dave and Sara Hambury have had an eventful week — winning $75,000 on Sunday and welcoming the birth of their second child on Tuesday.
“We’re almost overloaded with excitement,” said Dave Hambury yesterday.
Last Sunday, Feb. 20, the Hamburys received the news that they had won the Ocean City-Berlin Optimist Club’s $75,000 grand prize out of the Scholarship Lotto.
“The only thing I had to do was buy a $100 raffle ticket, which I have bought one every year for probably 10 years,” said Hambury, who owns The Green Room in West Ocean City.
Hambury said that on Sunday night he and his wife received a phone call from Sara’s mother, who was in Florida, saying that her friend, who was in attendance at the Seaside Boat Show at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, had heard their name drawn as the winners for the grand prize.
“But we still were extremely excited but we weren’t quite going to lose it until we found out for sure,” said Hambury.
Later on that evening, they received a phone call from Lotto Chairman Rich Dalton confirming the exciting news.
“We just started jumping around the house. I thought my wife was going to go into labor right there,” said Hambury.
When The Dispatch asked Hambury if they knew how they were going to spend their winnings, he replied, “At this point, not really. Honestly three years ago it would have been an around-the-world ticket for two, but now that we have a family it probably won’t get that exciting but still pretty darn exciting.”
The Hamburys have a soon-to-be 3-year-old son, Hayden, and on Tuesday night around 10:30 p.m. a new addition to the family arrived.
“We had a little baby girl and she’s perfect,” Hambury said.
They named their daughter, Opal Alane.
Between winning $75,000 and the birth of their daughter, Hambury said it’s been a week he will never forget.
“We feel exhilarated and exhausted all at the same time. For a day or two, we were jumping around the house but honestly the baby has pretty much overshadowed the winnings,” he said.
Hambury said, unquestionably, this is one of the greatest weeks of his life.
“I mean I have had good weeks, like the birth of my son and my wedding day,” he said. “But I mean these two items combined would be pretty hard to outdo and I totally feel fortunate.”
According to the Ocean City-Berlin Maryland Optimist Club’s website, it was, “founded to aid and encourage the development of youth, in the belief that the giving of one’s self I service will advance the well-being of man, his community and the world.”
The scholarship lotto drawing is conducted every year at the annual Seaside Boat Show. This was the club’s 23rd annual drawing. Tickets were sold at $100 per chance and the proceeds benefit Stephen Decatur High School graduates by awarding them scholarships.
Over the last 22 years, the Ocean City-Berlin Optimist Club has awarded 269 scholarships that total $1,386,000. Along with the Hamburys’ $75,000 prize, the $15,000 scholarship lotto winners were Debbi and Angela Lokey from Salisbury, and the $10,000 winner was John Cornell from Kensington, and Mark Bereen from Coopersburg, Pa. won the door prize of a boat at the show.