The millionaire makeover: Powerball winner ditches the woollen beanie for a smart suit and new hairstyle as she finally steps forward to collect her $127m share

• Marie Holmes, from Shallotte, North Carolina, came forward to a local news station two weeks ago with winning ticket
• She chose to take lump-sum payment of $127million before taxes
• She plans to set up college funds for her kids, buy a new home
• Holmes, 26, also plans to give money to church and travel with funds
• The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 175 million

By Kelly Mclaughlin For Dailymail.com and Associated Press

Published: 14:57 EST, 23 February 2015 | Updated: 04:09 EST, 24 February 2015

She has vowed not to let her $127million Powerball win change her - and has even promised to give some of the cash to church.

But single mother-of-four Marie Holmes looked to have treated herself to a millionaire makeover as she collected her share of the vast lottery jackpot.

The 26-year-old, from Shallotte, North Carolina, was pictured wearing a woollen beanie when she came forward with the lucky ticket, which netted her a lump-sum payment of $127million before taxes.

But as she finally stepped forward to claim her winnings, she dazzled with a new hairstyle and smart suit.

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Dazzling: Marie Holmes, looked to have treated herself to a millionaire makeover as she collected her share of the vast lottery jackpot

The 26-year-old, from Shallotte, North Carolina, was pictured wearing a woollen beanie when she came forward with the lucky ticket

Marie Holmes, 26, from Shallotte, North Carolina, made her $127million lottery winnings official on Monday with a press conference for the Education Lottery

Holmes announced her winnings to a local news station earlier this month. But the handing over of the large check makes her winnings official

Holmes, one of three winners of the historic $564million jackpot, announced her winnings to a local news station two weeks ago.

But the passing over of the over-sized check at a news conference yesterday made her winnings official.

Holmes has said that she hopes to set up college funds for her children, buy a new home, give money to church and to travel - perhaps to Paris, as she's never been outside the United States.

Holmes says she gave her mom $15 to buy five tickets on her way to church. She later bought five more.

Weeks later, life is very different. She says security accompanies her everywhere. At the news conference, she was flanked by her lawyer and her financial adviser.

Holmes and her family live in a trailer in Shallotte, North Carolina — just north of South Carolina on the coast.

Winning still 'doesn't feel real', Holmes said at the press conference.

'It's not going to change the person that I am, but it's going to change our situation,' she added. 'It's going to be very fortunate.'

The lucky winner said earlier this month that she scared her kids, one of whom has cerebral palsy, after she found out she had won and began screaming that they 'didn't have to struggle anymore'.

'I am humbled and grateful for the opportunities this has created for my family,' she said.

Holmes said at the press conference that having the money hasn't hit her yet, and that it still 'doesn't feel real'

Holmes said she originally bought five tickets for a total $15 before the lottery was announced. She later bought five more in homes of winning the jackpot

She said at the conference that now she is happy her family won't have to struggle anymore now that she has the money.

'They're going to be able to live a comfortable life,' she said. 'That's everything.'

She used to work at McDonald's and Walmart before quitting to take care of her children.

Her four children, Brayden, Charisma, Andrea and Ebony, are aged from nine months to seven years old. Brayden is believed to suffer from cerebral palsy.

Holmes sacrificed her education to care for her four children and took minimum wage jobs to provide for her family.

With little or no help from the fathers of her four young children, she has struggled financially for most of her adult life.

Holmes has also seen her own father repeatedly jailed and her favorite cousin shot and left paralyzed after a home invasion.

Family members describe Holmes as a loving mother who always put her children first.

'Marie is very grounded and she will know what to do with all that money,' said her uncle William Bryant.

'I'm sure she will want to buy a new home for herself and her kids, but I can't see any extravagant purchases. She's a nice girl who loves her family and loves her church.'

Holmes said in the press conference that she can give her kids all that they want now, but she still wants them to live humbly

Family members have said that the mother is a nice and grounded woman who 'always puts her kids first'

Holmes has little contact with the two fathers of her four children. The three eldest are with her former high school sweetheart who now lives in California.

Her youngest child is with a local man but friends say he is not involved in his daughter's life.

Lottery officials said her winning ticket was sold at a convenience store in Shallotte. It is the fourth time that a North Carolina ticket has claimed a Powerball jackpot. In North Carolina, a winner has 180 days from the drawing to claim the prize.

The winning numbers were: 11, 13, 25, 39, 54 and the Powerball 19.

Holmes's winning line was the fourth of the 'quick picks'. The odds of winning the Powerball are one in 175million.

The gas station she bought the ticket at will get $50,000 as a retailer incentive award.

Another ticket-holder from the February 11 drawing in Puerto Rico has elected to remain anonymous, while the owner of a winning ticket sold in Texas has not yet come forward.

Holmes has been living in the pictured trailer with multiple family members. She hopes to buy a new house for her and her kids with the earnings, but she doesn't know if she'll settle in North Carolina

Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, Holmes, worked at this McDonald's in North Carolina to help her family get by

The Texas Lottery posted on Twitter that one of the winning tickets was sold at Appletree Food Mart in Princeton, a city about 40 miles north of Dallas.

It had been nearly a year since a Powerball prize reached the giant number people have come to expect recently. That was last February, when someone won $425.3million.

The February 11 jackpot was the third-largest in Powerball history and the fifth-largest U.S. lottery prize.

The last time a Powerball jackpot climbed so high was May 2013, when a Florida ticket won a $590.5million prize.

The largest payout in U.S. history was to three ticketholders in the Mega Millions game, the other national lottery drawing.

That was a $656million prize won in March 2012 by players in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland.

In 2012, state officials who run Powerball and Mega Millions changed ticket prices and lowered the odds of winning jackpots in hopes the moves would increase the number of huge prizes and draw more players.

The new rules worked, causing jackpots to repeatedly climb to record levels. More than half of the top 10 U.S. jackpots have been reached in the past couple of years.