The mayor of Earlham still doesn't know who the donor is, but said if he did and social distancing rules weren't in place, he would give them a hug.
An anonymous donor surprised the town of about 1,400 that sits 30 minutes from downtown Des Moines by purchasing gift cards to three local businesses and arranging for the city to send them to every household.
That was great, Lillie said, but another restaurant had just started to open before Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered restaurants to end dine-in service, and he wanted them to be included. That restaurant was Trostel's Broken Branch. Lillie said he thought 549 cards split between the businesses was beyond generous. He couldn't believe when the man told him the donor was buying 549 $50 cards at each of the three businesses.
For a week, he kept the secret from everyone but his family, the restaurants and his city staff that stuffed the envelopes, which included a letter explaining the situation. The envelopes were sent this past Tuesday and arrived on Thursday.Jennifer Trostel, whose husband owns Trostel's Broken Branch, was shocked when Lillie called and told the restaurant to have 549 gift cards ready. The restaurant is so new they didn't have gift certificates yet — Trostel had to buy them on Amazon.
"Nobody has a lot to smile about the last few weeks, and this is definitely something to smile about," he 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."
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