le book humanitaire

Back in 2013, Rachel Lapierre of Montreal, Canada, won the lottery.

She was to receive $1,000 a week — $52,000 a year — for the rest of her life. And what a difference that extra income has ended up making!

Well, not to her personally, really — but to lots of other people in need.

GIF via BBC News/YouTube.

Instead of keeping her lottery earnings, Lapierre has been giving it all away to charity — her own nonprofit.

"You know, money is money," she explained to BBC News. "When you [are] born, you don't have anything. And when you go, you're going with nothing. But you're going with your memories."

GIF via BBC/YouTube.

Before winning the lottery, Lapierre — a former Miss Quebec beauty queen — already lived a relatively well-off life. Grateful for her privileges and good fortune, Lapierre had launched Le Book Humanitaire (The Humanitarian Book) — a nonprofit helping people not only in Canada, but countries like Haiti, Sengal, and India, as well.

Lapierre has been giving all of her lottery income to The Humanitarian Book to help even more people in need.

The nonprofit mostly runs off the generosity of volunteers and serves communities in a number of ways, she explained to Canadian talk show "Tout le Monde en Parle" last year — from donating food to the hungry to helping cancer patients with cooking and cleaning around the house.  

"We just try to promote good deeds," Lapierre told the BBC. "A good deed can be so many things. It can be [donating] a bike today, it can be food, it can be transport to go to the hospital, it can be just listening to someone on the phone because they're so lonely."  

If one good deed can go a long way, imagine what Lapierre's lifetime supply will do.

Learn more about Lapierre's story and Le Book Humanitaire in the BBC video below: