Single Mom Donates $1,000 Tip To Help Fund Community Skate Park for Kids
Stories of restaurant patrons “tipping the bill” are some of the best out there. But what happens when someone goes above and beyond the bill — say, over 30X the amount the meal cost?
This is just what happened to one bartender in Nashville, Tennessee. Anna Hofstetter is a struggling single mom who works 3 jobs to support her two young children.
One of her jobs is tending bar at Hotel Nashville. It was just like any other slow evening when a friendly couple came in and talked to Anna, according to WXIN.
“They were my first customers of the night,” the working mom told WTHR. “They were very sweet. They ordered a cocktail each, shared an appetizer, shared the dinner special.”
The couple told Anna they had been married at that very hotel 7 years before. When they finished their meal and paid the bill, the bartender probably didn’t think much of it.
Until she took a look at the tip they left. “Their check came out to $32.40 And when I picked up the receipt, I was a little taken aback,” she told Fox 13.
On the tip line was the amount of $1,000. I don’t know about you, but if it had been me, I would have worried the number had been written in error.
But the generous gift was no mistake. A tip like that would certainly help the single mom, particularly during the holiday season.
Anna thanked the two profusely. All they wanted was what they had written at the bottom of the receipt — “Give something for the kids.”
Rather than shower her own two children with everything they could ever want, Anna decided to donate to a much bigger cause.
“My first thought was a big Christmas,” Hofstetter told WTHR. “Student loans, get a mortgage payment ahead, Christmas, big birthday. But something kept ringing in my mind, the note at the bottom…”
She truly took the couple’s wish to heart as she decided to donate the entire sum to “Kids on Wheels,” a fundraiser headed up by students hoping to build a park for skaters and teens in Nashville.
“They have been asking for this skate park for years,” Anna explained to WTHR. “Literally years.” Her kindness left Clara Stanley, board president of the Brown County Enrichment for Teens Association, speechless.
“Anna called me. I was in tears. I just shared with other people that I couldn’t believe it,” Stanley said. “Single mom! Working three jobs! But she put her dream out there and said ‘Clara I really want to help you guys.'”
Anna expressed giving “feels great” and hopes others will be inspired to pay it forward if given the opportunity.
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