Vanessa Currence of Gastonia plans to have a Thanksgiving her family will never forget after she won a $319,883 Cash 5 jackpot.

“This is something to be grateful for,” Currence said. “I’m going to treat my family real good. I’m going to rent a place and just have my nine kids and 27 grandkids all together.”

She beat the odds of 1 in 749,398 Monday night to win the Cash 5 jackpot. She used a combination of family member’s birthdays to pick her numbers.

“I wasn’t expecting to win,” Currence said. “When my son told me to check my ticket, I just looked at him, and then when I saw the numbers I started jumping around.”

Currence claimed her prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings she took home $221,519.

She bought the $1 ticket at the Gastonia Express Mart on South York Road in Gastonia.

Ticket sales from games like Cash 5 made it possible for the lottery to raise more than $634 million for the state last year. For details on how more than $88.6 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Gaston County, click on the “For Education” section of the lottery’s website.