Generous Mystery Family Hands Out Cash, Pays For Purchases, At Indiana Goodwill

Over the weekend, a family in Valparaiso, IN, took the name of the Goodwill store quite literally, handing out money to shoppers and paying for their purchases at the checkout line.

“They came in and had a stack of Christmas card envelopes, and that’s what they started passing out to everybody,” the Goodwill district manager tells NWItimes.com about the family, which included a couple, their children and one grandma. “One of the ladies that had been handed one of the cards came up to the register and opened it, and it was a Christmas card and there was money. It said ‘Merry Christmas Angel.'”

And when the cash envelopes were gone, the family stuck around, taking seats by the cashiers and paying as people came up to buy stuff.

Explains the district manager, “They said a couple of years ago they were in a position that (the mother) could only shop at Goodwill, and now that they were doing well they sort of pay that back… They said they didn’t need anything for themselves for Christmas. Their Christmas gift to themselves was being able to give back to everybody else.”

This family isn’t alone in sharing the holiday spirit with shoppers. Earlier this month, woman in Michigan picked three random strangers to pay off their Kmart layaway bills, and one of our readers even got into the spirit by doing the same in her area.

Anonymous family shares wealth, happiness with Valpo Goodwill shoppers [NWItimes.com]

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