2 Special Holiday Stories….Church Pays Off $5 Million of Iowans’ Medical Debt For Christmas & ‘He Wants Me To Tell You He Loves You’: Secret Santa Pays Off $65,000 In Layaway At Walmart
Church Pays Off $5 Million of Iowans’ Medical Debt For Christmas
A church in Des Moines has paid off the medical debt of all Iowans this holiday season.
Rev. Minna Bothwell / Capitol Hill Lutheran Church
Reverend Minna Bothwell of Capitol Hill Lutheran Church told the Des Moines Register that the idea to pay off medical debt in their community came from members of her congregation. RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit organization, abolishes large amounts of medical debt after purchasing it at a discount from collection agencies.
“We asked them how much money it would take to forgive all the medical debt in Polk County,” Bothwell said. “They responded, ‘With what you have, you could forgive debt in all of Iowa’.”
In a video posted to Facebook, Bothwell said that Capitol Hill Lutheran Church “purchased all of Iowa’s medical debt that RIP had access to, a total of $5 million. And we are going to forgive every cent of it.”
“2020 has been a rough year for everyone,” Bothwell told the Register. “Hopefully, when people receive this news, they start the year off better with a significant weight off their shoulders.”
‘He Wants Me To Tell You He Loves You’: Secret Santa Pays Off $65,000 In Layaway At Walmart
An anonymous donor paid off nearly $65,000 of layaway items at the Walmart in Bristol, Tennessee.
Bristol Walmart
Walmart says the $64,995.51 donation that was made on Monday was enough to cover the store’s entire layaway balance.
“I got a notification on my email that my layaway had been paid for,” said shopper Lloyd Leonard. “And I thought ‘well that’s kind of weird’.”
Leonard was informed by management that the anonymous donation had covered his layaway fees.
“She said yeah somebody came in this morning at 6 o’clock and paid everybody’s layaway,” Leonard told WJHL. “But he wants me to tell you that he loves you, God bless you and Merry Christmas.”
According to Walmart management, the anonymous donor wanted to positively affect as many people as possible.
