PHOENIX — Sharon Vandergriff from Tucson, Arizona will be heading to Times Square for New Year's Eve.
She's one of 29 finalists up for the "POWERBALL First Millionaire of the Year."
The drawing will be held just after midnight on ABC's broadcast of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023."
Sharon tells us she didn't even realize she had entered the drawing until she got a voicemail from the Arizona Lottery.
"She left me a voice message. And she's like, congratulations, we just wanted to let you know that you are a finalist and the Powerball first millionaire of 2023. And I thought, Well, okay, well, I don't really understand what that means," said Vandergriff.
"So I looked at all the emails, and I thought, Oh, this is awesome. I won this trip. And so when I called her back, she said, it's a little bigger than just winning a trip, and she was very excited. And I was excited. And she said, You're the person from the state of Arizona, that's eligible to be one of 29 people to be the first millionaire of 2023," Vandergriff added.
We asked Sharon what winning would mean to her and her husband.
"It would certainly be very life-changing, that's for sure. I can't even it's overwhelming to think about because almost it doesn't even seem real. Sometimes. It's just like, oh my gosh, I'm really eligible to do this," explained Vandergriff.
"I love to travel. We both love to travel. We talked about maybe going away in a couple of years for an enter big anniversary trip. So yeah, travel is certainly a consideration in that in the possibilities should I win," she added.
Sharon tells us living in Arizona she doesn't even have a real winter coat so she will be buying some new clothes to be prepared for the very cold weather.
We also asked her if she would be bringing any lucky charms with her as well.
"My sister had given me something a number of years ago that I like to carry with me. And I thought maybe I'll take my little, it's a little rock in the shape of a heart. And I thought maybe I'll take that with me. But no, no superstitions, no Lucky Charms" said Vandergriff.
You can root for Sharon on ABC15.
Watch "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023" starting at 7:00 p.m. Saturday.
