A Man spent $82,000 on gift cards and sent them to every home in an Iowa town

An anonymous donor has given each household in the small midwestern town of Earlham, Iowa, gift cards worth $150 each to ease the burden of social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic. The total amounts to more than $82,000 in donations.

Jeff Lillie, the town’s mayor, told the Washington Post that he received a phone call from a friend informing him of a donor interested in financially supporting the town. Earlham has a population of about 1,450 people.

“When I told him there were 549 households in town, he said ‘Done.’ And that was it,” Lillie said. “I was ecstatic because it made sure everyone would get a card.”

Within days of the call, each family began receiving three $50 gift cards each to a local restaurant, grocery store and coffee shop.

Some residents of Earlham will pay forward the good deed. Anyone who isn’t in need has the option of returning the cards at city hall, where they will be redistributed to families in the school district but who live outside the city limits.

Leslie Mineart, a public health educator and a single mother of two teenagers, donated her grocery store card. She told the Post it would have the most impact for someone unemployed.

“It was such a nice surprise to find those cards in my mailbox that I knew I should pass that joy down to somebody else,” she said.

Earlham’s gift is among several charitable donations to gain national attention. Last week, the actor and director Tyler Perry footed the grocery bill of every elderly shopper during senior shopping hour at 73 supermarkets across New Orleans, Atlanta and Georgia.