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<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 14pt">Couple reshaping Manitoba community with $50M lottery win</span></span>
SAGKEENG FIRST NATION, Man. -- <span style="font-weight: bold">It was a massive lottery jackpot, called the biggest single-family win in Canadian history.</span>
And now, on the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, signs are starting to emerge of the generosity of the couple who last month won $50 million.
But getting people to talk about Kirby and Marie Fontaine is no easy task. Neighbours are exceptionally protective of the new millionaires - other than to say they're two of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
<span style="font-weight: bold">On a recent day, a handful of men are clearing and burning brush on the side of Sagkeeng's winding road. It's tough work, made harder by the -37 C temperature.
This is one of Kirby Fontaine's make-work projects.
"He wants to beautify the community," says elementary school principal Rick Fewchuk. To that end, Fontaine hired a number of local men, offered them $100 a day and put them to work.</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">Mark Bunn, a second-cousin of Marie Fontaine, said he thought he was going to have to go to another community to find work.
"Instead of leaving the reserve, you got this," says Bunn, his breath huffing out in clouds.</span>
The Fontaines are slowly making changes in Sagkeeng, doling out money they won in the Western Canada Lottery Corp. jackpot with the measured caution of longtime philanthropists.
<span style="font-weight: bold">
Many driveways here sport new trucks. It's the easiest way to find a relative or friend of the family on the reserve.
The Fontaine's daughter got a fully loaded 2010 Camaro for her 18th birthday. A couple of university students who helped Kirby out got trucks.</span>
Rumour is they spent $780,000 at one Winnipeg car dealership.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Marie is apparently buying a number of ready-to-move houses and having them shipped to the reserve. Housing here is as deplorable as on most reserves. There are tidy trailers, like the that belonging to the Fontaines. Many homes are decked out with inflatable Santas and strings of lights. But there are also ramshackle houses the size of fishing shacks.</span>
"The Fontaines are very easygoing, fun-loving people," said elementary school principal Rick Fewchuk, who has known Kirby Fontaine for years.
"You couldn't meet two nicer people, especially Kirby."
<span style="font-weight: bold">Their largesse has helped the three local schools. The couple has taken on the costs of the hot lunch and breakfast programs. For Fewchuk, that means a large savings, budget money he can put back into the school.
It also means children aren't trying to learn while their stomachs rumble.
"It's cut down on discipline problems. They're not hungry. They can learn.
"A lot of them, they just didn't have time to eat before school. Now that's the first thing they do here."
</span>
Kirby is organizing a hockey tournament this March. It will honour his late father. Kirby can't play anymore, not since the stroke last year that left him walking with a cane. His old friends and teammates will be wearing the best gear for the Melvin Fontaine memorial tournament.
"They're sincere," says Fewchuk. "Kirby said, 'Rick, I'm not changing.' I know he's going to stay on the reserve."
It all started at the Broadlands Mall in nearby Pine Falls. That's where Marie Fontaine bought her winning ticket.
People have been flocking to the convenience store, betting another miracle could take place.
Mall co-owner Laurie Wilson said she is selling between 30 and 40 per cent more tickets since the Fontaines won.
She is reluctant to talk about whether or not the couple or their extended family are still buying tickets.
<span style="font-weight: bold">
They need their privacy, she said.
In other words, no comment. A couple of the nicest people you're ever going to meet are under the protection of the people of this community.
And in return, the Fontaines are taking care of many of them.</span>
..
SAGKEENG FIRST NATION, Man. -- <span style="font-weight: bold">It was a massive lottery jackpot, called the biggest single-family win in Canadian history.</span>
And now, on the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, signs are starting to emerge of the generosity of the couple who last month won $50 million.
But getting people to talk about Kirby and Marie Fontaine is no easy task. Neighbours are exceptionally protective of the new millionaires - other than to say they're two of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
<span style="font-weight: bold">On a recent day, a handful of men are clearing and burning brush on the side of Sagkeeng's winding road. It's tough work, made harder by the -37 C temperature.
This is one of Kirby Fontaine's make-work projects.
"He wants to beautify the community," says elementary school principal Rick Fewchuk. To that end, Fontaine hired a number of local men, offered them $100 a day and put them to work.</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">Mark Bunn, a second-cousin of Marie Fontaine, said he thought he was going to have to go to another community to find work.
"Instead of leaving the reserve, you got this," says Bunn, his breath huffing out in clouds.</span>
The Fontaines are slowly making changes in Sagkeeng, doling out money they won in the Western Canada Lottery Corp. jackpot with the measured caution of longtime philanthropists.
<span style="font-weight: bold">
Many driveways here sport new trucks. It's the easiest way to find a relative or friend of the family on the reserve.
The Fontaine's daughter got a fully loaded 2010 Camaro for her 18th birthday. A couple of university students who helped Kirby out got trucks.</span>
Rumour is they spent $780,000 at one Winnipeg car dealership.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Marie is apparently buying a number of ready-to-move houses and having them shipped to the reserve. Housing here is as deplorable as on most reserves. There are tidy trailers, like the that belonging to the Fontaines. Many homes are decked out with inflatable Santas and strings of lights. But there are also ramshackle houses the size of fishing shacks.</span>
"The Fontaines are very easygoing, fun-loving people," said elementary school principal Rick Fewchuk, who has known Kirby Fontaine for years.
"You couldn't meet two nicer people, especially Kirby."
<span style="font-weight: bold">Their largesse has helped the three local schools. The couple has taken on the costs of the hot lunch and breakfast programs. For Fewchuk, that means a large savings, budget money he can put back into the school.
It also means children aren't trying to learn while their stomachs rumble.
"It's cut down on discipline problems. They're not hungry. They can learn.
"A lot of them, they just didn't have time to eat before school. Now that's the first thing they do here."
</span>
Kirby is organizing a hockey tournament this March. It will honour his late father. Kirby can't play anymore, not since the stroke last year that left him walking with a cane. His old friends and teammates will be wearing the best gear for the Melvin Fontaine memorial tournament.
"They're sincere," says Fewchuk. "Kirby said, 'Rick, I'm not changing.' I know he's going to stay on the reserve."
It all started at the Broadlands Mall in nearby Pine Falls. That's where Marie Fontaine bought her winning ticket.
People have been flocking to the convenience store, betting another miracle could take place.
Mall co-owner Laurie Wilson said she is selling between 30 and 40 per cent more tickets since the Fontaines won.
She is reluctant to talk about whether or not the couple or their extended family are still buying tickets.
<span style="font-weight: bold">
They need their privacy, she said.
In other words, no comment. A couple of the nicest people you're ever going to meet are under the protection of the people of this community.
And in return, the Fontaines are taking care of many of them.</span>
..
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