Tammie Murphy, 32, often finds checks, coupons and a fair amount of junk mail in the more than 700 envelopes she opens each day as a donations clerk at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital here. But last Thursday, toward the end of her work day, Ms. Murphy found something she had never seen in her nine years on the job: a winning card from a McDonald's lottery-type game worth $1 million.

The colorful 12-inch-square card arrived in a plain white envelope, addressed to the hospital in blue ink. There was no indication of who sent it: no return address, no accompanying note. But it was postmarked from Dallas on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving. That was the day after the McDonald's game, Monopoly, began.

At first, Ms. Murphy thought the card was just more junk mail and was about to throw it away. Then, she said today, "The words 'instant winner' really caught my eye."

Ms. Murphy ran to her supervisor, Anita Williams, and joked, "Look girl, I'm a winner," waving the card around. Ms. Murphy said she never considered keeping it for herself because she knew the donation was meant for the hospital, which treats thousands of children from all over the world for catastrophic diseases, most notably cancer.