Call it paying it forward — big time.
A Minnesota couple — who at one time lived on discarded food — quietly put a personal check for $500,000 into a Salvation Army kettle located outside a grocery store in a Twin Cities suburb over the weekend, NBC News reported.
The emblematic red kettle, which the humanitarian organization has set up in public places to solicit donations across the globe for decades, was placed outside a Cub Foods in Rosemount, Minnesota — a town about twenty miles outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
When the Salvation Army reached out to the couple whose name was on the check, they insisted on remaining behind the scenes, Borgen said. They said the donation was a way for them to give back and added that they wanted to honor one of their fathers who served in World War I and was always grateful to Salvation Army "Doughnut Lassies" who brought soldiers free coffee and treats.
The donors told the Salvation Army they had relied on discarded food from a local grocery store as a young couple and can now afford to help others.
"You get to a point in life where it's time to take care of others, the way you were taken care of," the donors said in a statement from the Salvation Army.