Huge Check in Kettle Stuns Salvation Army

Half a million dollars
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 30, 2015 2:20 PM CST
Huge Check in Kettle Stuns Salvation Army
The big check.   (Salvation Army)

An anonymous couple in Minneapolis just raised the bar in a big way for all those dropping spare change into Salvation Army kettles. They quietly dropped in a check for $500,000 outside a Cub Foods store, reports the Pioneer Press. "The check did clear and was deposited in the bank,” a Salvation Army spokeswoman tells Reuters. “They feel very strongly about the gift being anonymous.” It shatters the previous record for a local kettle donation of $25,000, notes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. No word yet on whether it's a national record as well.

“You get to a point in life where it’s time to take care of others, the way you were taken care of,” explain the donors in a statement released by the charity. In it, they spoke of relying on discarded grocery store food in their younger days. Also, one of the pair's fathers served in World War I and spoke fondly of the Salvation Army's delivery of coffee and doughnuts to the troops. "We are simply stunned and honored to have received such a generous gift," says Maj. Jeff Strickler, the charity's commander in the Twin Cities. (A nonprofit for the blind got a surprise $125 million gift from a recluse.)

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