As a baby, two women bought him a raffle ticket at a baseball game — and he won. Now, that money is helping him pay his way through college

Two women seated behind them, Lorraine Stevenson and Georgina George, noticed Leo — and also couldn’t get over “the cutest little baby with chubby cheeks,” they recalled to Global News, which made the connection to reunite the once-strangers in 2022.

Stevenson and George were so enamoured with Leo, in fact, that they bought the baby three 50/50 raffle tickets, one of which ended up being a winner.

The gift that kept on giving

While Matt recalled trying to “give the money back,” Stevenson and George insisted that the winning money was for Leo, just nine months old at the time.

“Hey, it’s only money,” George told Global News.

But Stevenson and George did give the Bruce’s one condition: “They said, ‘Use it towards his education,’” Leo said.

The Bruce’s agreed to put the undisclosed amount of money towards college, bought beers to celebrate and snapped pictures with Leo, his new friends and his winnings.

“It was awesome,” Lorraine told CTV News. “It was a very good day!”

Sharon and Matt went on to invest Leo’s winnings and, as the years passed, that investment compounded. By the time Leo graduated from high school, it had already grown enough to pay for part of his tuition.

Leo decided that he wanted to express his gratitude by returning to Canada to attend the University of British Columbia, where he studies kinesiology and hopes to, one day, become a chiropractor.