Good News: Anonymous Donor Sends $150 in Gift Cards to Every House in Iowa Town 

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With the deluge of headlines blaring the latest crisis sparked by the spread of the coronavirus, Mediaite has decided to dedicate at least one story per day to good news coming in from around the world.

An anonymous donor from Madison County, IA sent $150 gift cards to every household in the 1,400 person town of Earlham, in order to help the local economy amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The donor spent more than $82,000 on gift cards from three local businesses and arranged for the city to send them to every household in the area.

The donor, therefore, spent roughly $27,000 on each of the businesses, which include West Side Bar and Grille, Hometown Market, and Trostel’s Broken Branch, giving them a much needed boost amid the pandemic.

According to the Des Moines Register, a spokesperson for the donor contacted Earlham Mayor Jeff Lillie and said the donor was willing to purchase 100 $50 gift cards in order to “pump some money into the local economy.”

By the end of the conversation with Lillie, the donor decided to purchase 549 gift cards from all three businesses, exactly the right amount to send 1 of each to every household in the town.

Jennifer Trostel, whose husband owns Trostel’s Broken Branch, “couldn’t even believe what was happening,” when she heard the news.

“You were so grateful you started to cry,” Trostel added. “You couldn’t believe that people would actually want to help you in such a huge way that you can’t even fathom that kind of help.”

“Nobody has a lot to smile about the last few weeks, and this is definitely something to smile about,” Lillie said. “There’s a lot of families that $150 isn’t going to be a game-changer, but it’s still something to make you feel good that there’s good people in the world that are doing good things. It gives you some hope.”

“Financially, it’s one of the biggest things that’s ever happened to this small town,” he added.