Lotto winners’ first reward: new pickup truck

A new pickup truck will be parked in the driveway of a retired Chewelah couple who just won $11 million in the Washington Lottery.

Donna and Loren Hafer claimed the prize Thursday, and when asked what they plan to do with their money, Loren replied, “Find the best pickup truck in town!”

Loren Hafer, 84, is a retired Lynden Transport employee. His wife, 74, is a retired casino employee.

The great-grandparents of five said they could hardly believe it when they found out they won the jackpot, tied for the largest prize since the game was restructured in 2006.

“We started playing Lotto when the jackpot got high,” Donna Hafer said in a statement released Friday. “We had never won anything before in our lives!”

“The first person we told about our big win was our son,” Donna said. “He thought I was kidding and checked the numbers himself.”

They bought the ticket at a Safeway grocery store on West Colville Avenue in Chewelah, which will receive a bonus of $110,000.