By MURRAY EVANS - Associated Press Writer - Associated Press
Friday, September 4, 2009
A couple who won millions of dollars playing Powerball said Friday that they started a charitable foundation to help fund research in rural parts of Oklahoma into diseases that affect children, including diabetes, cancer and asthma.
Don and Joyce Harvey have already donated $30,000 in startup costs to the DJH Foundation at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, their Oklahoma City-based attorney David Walls said.
The foundation plans to fund a program that will buy a mobile metabolic research unit for $800,000 to $1 million that can carry out testing in rural parts of Oklahoma where children might not be able to travel to Oklahoma City for treatment, said Steven Chernausek, the director of the Diabetes and Metabolic Research Program at the Health Sciences Center's Children's Medical Research Institute.
Such research could determine if fitness programs designed for children in rural schools make a difference and examine what effects, if any, socio-economics, food consumption and race have on the health of children in different rural areas, Chernausek said.
"This is a very understudied area," he said.
Joyce Harvey, 52, bought the winning $105.8 million Powerball ticket in June 2007 at a service station in Roland, near the Arkansas state line. The couple, who lived in Muldrow, chose to receive a $33.3 million lump-sum payment after taxes instead of the full amount paid out over 29 years.
They said they immediately were inundated with requests for money, many from complete strangers. But the couple, who before becoming millionaires gave what they could to other charitable causes for children, said they wanted to give to projects that had a greater scope then people who claimed to be down on their luck.
"We got thousands upon thousands of letters," Joyce Harvey said. "We decided that we could help individuals — there would be no problem, we had the money for it — but the thing of it is, we wanted to help many. We didn't want to help just one. The research at OU ... that's helping thousands, not just one. That's what we decided to put our money into."
When learning about the work at the Health Sciences Center, they were intrigued. Don Harvey, a former truck driver who will turn 67 later this month, said he suffered from asthma, as did the Harveys' daughter. Cancer and diabetes also have affected others in their family, they said.
"How great would it be if we didn't have to worry about asthma attacks anymore?" Don Harvey said.
Joyce Harvey, who is part Cherokee, said she hopes her American Indian tribe and others help support the ongoing research at Oklahoma University. Chernausek said American Indians tend to suffer from diabetes at higher rates than other population groups.
The Harveys said they try to stay as low-key as possible, and they won't say where they live — only that it is in eastern Oklahoma. Crews from The Learning Channel spent time with the couple earlier this year filming a show for the cable television network's "Lottery Changed My Life" series. The Harveys said they agreed to be filmed for the show in an effort to promote their foundation and its work.