McDonald's Mystery Santa Buys $500 In Gift Cards For Homeless And Hungry

The homeless shelter at the Sweetwater Baptist Church in Waycross, Ga., only has eight beds. But this holiday season, thanks to one mystery Santa Claus, the people that sleep in them won't go hungry. According to the Florida Times-Union, the mystery man in question walked into a McDonald's in Waycross and bought 20 gift cards worth $25 each -- a total of $500 -- and asked the manager that they be "used for the hungry and homeless."

The manager, Brian Fey, described the mystery Santa as unremarkable looking and around 40 years old. Fey said that he was so touched by the donation that he is matching it dollar for dollar. He gave half the gift cards to the Baptist Church and the other half to a food pantry in neighboring Blackshear.

The McDonald's Mystery Santa seems to be the first of his kind to attract wide notice -- but anonymous Christmastime donation is no new phenomenon. Other such stories from this year alone include a mysterious $50,000 Salvation Army donation and reports of mystery men paying off K-Mart layaway gifts in the Washington, D.C. area.

The McDonald's Mystery Santa may not, in some sense, be quite as wholesome as those two -- it would probably have been better to give homeless men $500 worth of healthy food than McDonald's. But somewhat misguided charity is surely better than no charity at all.

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Comments

[flipflopphil79]

07:07 PM on 12/23/2011

What you call misguided, we call providential. The owner of the multiple Mcdonald's in our area has been coming to our shelter for months with his family to cook (HEALTHY FOOD) for and eat with our guys. He actually provided the anonymous giver a direct route to the homeless in our area. The cards will be used by our shelter guys as they are away from Sweetwater going to doctors visits and looking for employment during the day. We will also use the cards as a way to seek out men who are not in our shelter, but still need a warm meal. For more information about Sweetwater or our shelter please visit www.sweetwatercommunity.com
Thanks for running the story!

-Philip, Pastor of Sweetwater

[SantaMonican]

03:55 PM on 12/22/2011

No one should ever go to bed hungry, in this country. especially at Christmas time.
Thank you, Santa. I knew you really existed!

[Karl Wilder]

02:51 PM on 12/21/2011

Is this his effort to kill the homeless? Seriously? McDonald's. How much should these people have to endure? Unless of course this is all a publicity stunt by McDonald's to cash in on the good folks paying of layaway bills?

[gurke75]

11:39 AM on 12/21/2011

Now this is a great idea!

I've done the spontaneous I'll-buy-you-lunch-instead-of-giving-you-cash thing before, but this is much better.

Notwithstanding the "health" issue of McD's food (they do serve salads and grilled chicken), the thing that appeals to me about the gift cards is that I can carry gift cards in my wallet and give them out when I'm randomly approached in the street. If I could fit canned food or a turkey in my jeans pocket, I'd go that route, but I'm a small guy, so anything bigger than a pack of gum in my pocket would cause me to tip over. Seriously, though, to me, canned food and turkeys are best donated to food banks, and don't work for spontaneous, on-the-street donations.

So I think the only thing that'd stop me from doing this would be if they can get cash for the balance on the card--but I can easily clarify this with McD's.

[factorystock1]

11:23 AM on 12/21/2011

Here is someone giving a gift (McDonalds) to the homeless and people think it is a meal that will make them fat and obese, darn it is one gift card for one meal, you have to eat a boat load of McDonald's to get fat and big as house, theres alot of other bad food out there worst than McDonalds. Just because you don't like McDonalds doesn't give you the rite to dump on a person doing good.

[wakohnen]

11:03 AM on 12/21/2011

It is amazing how many people will criticize a random act of kindness. Looks to me like there are a lot of guilty consciences posting here who have done NOTHING for their fellow man. Criticizing others helps to ease the guilt I guess. Merry Christmas everyone!

[pumpkin1957]

11:06 AM on 12/21/2011

I am glad you and I are on the same page.

Merry Christmas.

[pumpkin1957]

10:56 AM on 12/21/2011

Why can't everyone just say Thank you to the most generous and kind person that took the time to open up his heart and his wallet for the needy this Holiday season. Stop critizing what should have been done. Did any of you criticizers take the time to do anything nice like this this year.

Happy Holidays to all!!!

[martin1557]

10:00 AM on 12/21/2011

according to the "First-Lady"......McDonalds Food is horrible.....almost criminal (probably will be if re-elected). What a great gift...... Heart Attack for Christmas!

[bldr1bob]

10:14 AM on 12/21/2011

If you're 200 pounds overweight a BigMac might not be the correct choice. But if you haven't had a meal in a couple days I doubt that the amount of calories they're eating is the first concern.

[shan69]

09:39 AM on 12/21/2011

I think this is very sweet, and thoughful. Many blessing will come for these indivisuals for giving from there heart with out thought.

[populux]

09:13 AM on 12/21/2011

He should be listening to Michelle Obama and give out arugula and salmon. McDonald's causes obesity and death.

[bldr1bob]

10:01 AM on 12/21/2011

Hopefully they don't buy Happy Meals for their hungry kids, because we all know how this will cause the children to learn bad eating habits while they're playing with the toy.

[meganmarieborn]

10:04 AM on 12/21/2011

I really hope that you aren't serious

[FronzelNeekburm]

09:02 AM on 12/21/2011

Hey guys: Enough. Yes, they could have donated "healthier" food. But you know what? At the end of the day, they donated food. Anyone complaining that it was McDonalds: what have you done for the homeless recently? Because right now, it looks like someone donated $500 dollars more worth of food than you.

[blondd780]

08:42 AM on 12/21/2011

The donation should have been given for healthier food? How dare they criticize the donor. Homeless people don't have the luxury of going to Whole Foods, or wherever else to eat healthier. I think the donor was generous with his gift. God bless him. What have you done for someone less fortunate than yourself?

[Adam Dray]

08:27 AM on 12/21/2011

......what better way for santa to help people than to help the obesity of america!! Would it had been so hard to buy a few turkeys or hams and sides whihch woulda cost half as much and fed twice as many? Don't get me wrong, it's a great deed especially from someone who's just trying to help but...of all places McDonalds? Sounds like a publicity stunt which is weird cause I'm pretty sure McD's doesn't need anymore money....they're bigger than Wal-mart after all.........

[populux]

09:16 AM on 12/21/2011

If you will notice, he donated gift cards, not the food. They could choose salads, oatmeal, milk, grilled chicken sandwiches and apple slices.

[Havana Thinks]

09:30 AM on 12/21/2011

Smart and correct, populux. Nothing wrong with what the donor did. I commend him for encouraging others, since the manager did the same! Merry Christmas to all!

[bldr1bob]

09:45 AM on 12/21/2011

I doubt many of the homeless and hungry who were helped by the donation are as worried about calorie counting and their next spinning class as you seem to be.

[new beginning]

09:55 AM on 12/21/2011

Kind of astounding isn't it, how in the face of someone doing something to help their fellow suffering Americans, that Adam felt compelled to preach to them about how they didn't choose the correct way to help?

Perhaps he would like to put his OWN money where his mouth is?

[Adam Dray]

10:27 AM on 12/21/2011

it has nothing to do with that, a few turkeys feeds alot more than 20 dollar burgers......

[rdz69]

07:49 AM on 12/21/2011

To start knocking on Mcdonalds food at the end of this article was plain stupid....

[Adam Dray]

08:29 AM on 12/21/2011

I'll sorta agree, but it is a true fact that half as much could have gotten twice as much food that is grocery bought and self cooked but then the attempt to cook such could have been much more ...'taxing'..........i guess it all depends how you look at it.....either way at least some hungry people had a hot meal in their tummies

[meganmarieborn]

10:11 AM on 12/21/2011

Where are they supposed to cook it? Homeless people will be fed, thanks to this man. I think Mcdonald's is a practical choice and I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

[ever4union6]

11:26 AM on 12/21/2011

Some of the recipients probably sold the gift cards to get money for alcohol, or drugs, but that negate the generosity of the donor. The homeless were given the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a meal thanks to a fellow human being..

[lofttypeofaview]

07:08 AM on 12/21/2011

This story actually consists of two miracles. The secret Santa who donated the first $500 and the Manger who donated another $500.