A Toronto butcher shop manager who won a $14.5-million lottery prize last week is making good on his promise to share his wealth.
Jose Lima, known as "Joe the butcher" to the hundreds of customers he has served for 22 years, gave away free four-kilogram bags of chicken legs to his patrons on Thursday.
The loyal customers began lining up well before the O Nosso Talho butcher shop opened at 9:30 a.m. By noon, the lineup stretched half a block around the store, which is located on Bloor Street just east of Dufferin Street.
Some 800 residents received their free chicken by lunchtime and another 450 were still in line.
Lima ordered almost 27,000 kilograms of chicken legs, and placed an extra order to make sure none of his customers would be walking away empty handed. The price tag was $30,000.
"For so many years I've been buying meat here, so it's very nice of him," said one happy elderly man.
"I am so happy, I don't know how I feel now," said Valarie Hindang. "I hope he's going to win again."
Lima has already made good on his first promise -- he gave each of his 50 employees $5,000 after his Lotto 6/49 win.
"We weren't expecting it, so for us it's a big thing," one employee told CTV Toronto on Thursday.
Lima, a 52-year-old husband and father of two, had been playing big lottery draws for a decade. He said every time he bought a ticket, he told God he would give his employees $5,000 and give away a truckload of chicken to his customers if he won.
The butcher shop manager decided to give away the meat on Thursday in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of his father's death.
Lima, meanwhile, says he is still in a state of shock over his good fortune.
"A million dollars is a lot of money. Fourteen million dollars is 14 times lots of money," he said with a large smile.
Lima said he still hasn't decided on how to spend his millions, but plans on taking a vacation. He says he has no intentions of quitting his job.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Galit Solomon
