Her ticket to winning the $50,000 lottery jackpot? Hard work

EVERETT — Rose Travis works seven days a week at two jobs.

She doesn’t spend her hard-earned money on lottery tickets.

Work was her ticket to winning a $50,000 jackpot.

Travis, 46, a med tech at Aegis Living Lynnwood, won the company’s “Dream Big” $50,000 prize in a random drawing for employees. Every year, an Aegis worker gets 50 grand in cash, no strings attached. The company pays the taxes. This is the first time someone at the Lynnwood center struck it big.

“I’m just happy, that’s all,” Travis said.

The Everett mom plans to pay off her car, take a family vacation and bank the rest.

That’s her big dream realized.

“In case of emergency, we have extra money. Paycheck to paycheck, it’s hard,” she said.

The “Dream Big” lottery was created by the founder of Bellevue-based Aegis, who would often see employees use their paychecks to buy a lottery ticket and wanted to give them a much better chance to win life-changing money.

To be eligible for the $50K grand prize, workers have to be with company at least three years. Lesser prizes of $1,000 and $1,500 are awarded at each of the 32 Aegis Living centers in Washington, California and Nevada.

Having $50,000 suddenly drop into their bank account might make some people go wild.

Travis jumped up and down and screamed when she found out she won, but she’s been punching a time clock since.

“I’m too busy working,” she said.

She works day and night. And she doesn’t plan to slow down.

She is also a production worker five days a week for a Woodinville aerospace manufacturer. She starts at 5 a.m. and often does overtime.

At Aegis, she pulls the overnight shift on weekends. She started as a full-time caregiver in 2012, and went to weekends after taking the Woodinville job a year ago.

Her husband, Jeff, has worked at the Lynnwood Costco Business Center for 17 years as a forklift driver.

Last year they bought a home near Challenger Elementary so their son, Luke, 11, can walk to school.

“We are very lucky to win,” Luke said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”

His wish list for presents might be a bit longer this year. A few Pokémon cards in his pocket is enough to keep him happy for now.

Travis is saving a chunk of the money for his education.

A vacation to Disneyland is in the planning stage, also thanks to the windfall.

“It’s hard to get the same time off,” her husband said.

Over the summer, she took Luke to the Philippines to visit family members. She hadn’t been back in 13 years, since moving to the United States.

“They asked when am I going to come back again,” she said. She figured it would be years before she could save up enough money to return, but with the winnings she can make a trip sooner, when time allows.

“Life in America is not so easy. You have to work hard,” she said Friday during a break between her two jobs.

It was a typical Friday. She worked all day at the Woodinville plant then that evening would do the overnight shift in Lynnwood. Then it’s back to work Saturday night to Sunday morning.

“Rose is always willing to do whatever it takes to make sure residents are taken care of,” said Maria Domann, general manager for Aegis Living Lynnwood. “She is very deserving.”

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.