Kelly Fox decided to throw a bit of chance into her children’s Christmas gifts this year by buying them all Powerball tickets.

“It was for fun,” Fox said. “Let’s see if we win.”

Her generosity could pay off, as the estimated jackpot is $1.7 billion. The cash option for the prize exceeds $781 million. But the Fox family doesn’t have the exclusive lockdown on playing the fantasy-rich Powerball, where the odds are 1 in about 292 million.

Fuel City on S. Riverfront in Dallas is dealing with the frenzy and the dreams. Jason Flores is working his first Powerball rush. The 17-year-old has been on the job for only four months.

“I actually had a customer come up here the other day. They bought $3,000 worth of Powerball,” Flores said. “And then we had another customer come up here the other day that bought 300. And then today we had a customer buy $100 worth.”

The teen cashier and stocker have to figure out how the customer wants the tickets: all on one ticket, separate, or another preference. As the transactions are occurring, dreams and promises fill the air.

“We’ve had a lot of people come in here and just be like that they’re going to buy their dream house, their dream car, and, you know, put half of it into a savings account,” he said. “Other people that want to just ball out and buy everything. And we always have some customers that have us, the cashiers, as a lucky charm.”

Flores said customers ask him and other workers to bless the tickets. That’s where multi-million dollar promises, he said, have been made to him. If the ticket holder became a winner and honored their word, the teen would become a millionaire.

“One said $10 million, $2 million, $5 million,” he said.

Flores, who simply holds the ticket up and declares it a winner, has not quit his day job for the promises, yet. Even he dreams of the change such currency could bring to his family’s life.

In the meantime, most of Fox’s children decided their winnings would go toward a trip. There was a vote for college. Church donations came up. It will be a family decision for sure, according to the mother of eight.

“It’s got my signature on every single one of them,” Fox said.

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (7News) — For the past couple of years, Christina Engle has been volunteering from a unique space at Dulles Town Center. But there’s nothing for sale at this storefront, free food prepared alongside a healthy serving of emotional support.

“We always have fresh produce,” said Engle.

Entrepreneur Nupur Panjabi founded Anna Sudha Community Kitchens to address a pressing need: many people suffering in a country teeming with excess.

“Anna means food, and Sudha means nectar of love. Our mission is to spread love through food. This is my way of just trying to make a difference,” said Panjabi.

This community kitchen has been around for only a few years, but due to demand, it produces and delivers an average of 6,500 meals a month from a 2,000-square-foot space in the Dulles Town Center.

Panjabi said her business model works because of a surrounding community willing to donate not only money but also time. Almost everyone associated with this non-profit is a volunteer, like Christina Engle.

“I was homeless for about a year and a half, me and my family,” added Engle.

For Engle, a life of struggle inspired her to be here for others.

Engle said, “A lot of people don’t have relatives or anything like that for the holidays, so when they come in, we make them feel special, and loved, and wanted.”

The need, according to Panjabi, has actually deepened due to recent economic challenges in the region.

“They’re making barely enough money to pay their rent and keep their cars. They don’t have money to buy food, so that’s where we come in,” said Panjabi.

For Panjabi, food is merely an ingredient in a much larger narrative: caring for those who don’t have much in a unique space defined by love.

“It’s very natural for a human being to be judgmental and to get rid of those judgments, that is the journey,” concluded Panjabi.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — Leadership in West Virginia’s House of Delegates say boosting economic development through aviation is a priority in the upcoming legislative session.

Some of the ideas expected include creating a new aviation technician training program, supporting regional airports and a program for helping finance hangar development.

The idea is to expand the maintenance, repair and overhaul – or MRO – work that’s been successful in Clarksburg to other airports and expand aircraft painting.

“West Virginia has a strong aviation industry – for decades. You have companies like Pratt Whitney, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, MHIRJ, the old Bombardier, that have been here for decades and really have invested in West Virginia, and I think what you’ve seen is we delivered for them,” Del Clay Riley, R-Harrison, said.

Lawmakers believe the Mountain State is still positioned to be a center of aviation work.

“We can compete both nationally and internationally with other airport environments to domicile major investments here in our state from companies looking for more hospitable places to do aviation work,” House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, said. “That includes like maintenance, repair and overhaul of jet engines and things like painting of major airplanes.”

Riley said development would favor airports with longer runways when it comes to maintenance, repair and overhaul because larger airplanes could land there.

“We have three runways with property that’s runway adjacent that are larger than LaGuardia Airport and larger than Reagan National,” he said. “Those are Clarksburg, Martinsburg and Parkersburg.”

The aviation industry is apparently looking for low traffic, long runways and adjacent property.

Riley said lawmakers could elect to cut red tape for permitting, finance hangars and expand training.

Meanwhile, West Virginia’s aviation industry just received a C- grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers, but noted it already contributes $1.6 billion annually to the state’s economy.