Wisconsin Man Raised $100K To Hand Out Surprise Gifts, Toys On Christmas
A good Samaritan from Wisconsin raised $100,000 for gifts to surprise gift people for the holidays.
Michael Johnson used his position as president and CEO of the local Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, Wisconsin, to raise the funds through social media as part of the club's Pay It Forward campaign.
The donations were used to give a family a new car, to tip restaurant servers, and for a toy drive.
"This year we raised over $100,000. We gave away a brand-new car to a family of five. We tipped several waitresses, we took about 50 families on shopping sprees and we secured toys for over 600 kids in our county," Johnson told CBS News on Wednesday.
One of the waitresses, Callie Blue, who works at Gus's Diner in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, received a $1,000 tip from Johnson on Christmas.
Locals and donators gave Johnson recommendations on who should receive gifts. He explained he chose a restaurant that was open at 6 a.m. on Christmas to tip one of the waitresses. Blue was also coincidentally recommended by someone.
The $1,000 tip was given with a note that said thank you for "smiling and working on Christmas day."
"I was like, 'This is not happening.' You always see videos and you hear this happening to other people, and you never think it's going to happen to you," Blue told CBS News Wednesday.
"He was giggling, and I was like, 'That's just not real.' It was really exciting. I only cried a little bit," Blue said.
Johnson and Blue's interaction has since gone viral with a Facebook video of him giving her the tip reaching over 14,000 views.
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