Shoppers at a Provincetown Stop & Shop got their groceries for free — thanks to an anonymous donor
An unidentified man bought $5,000 in store gift cards to cover the cost of groceries for early morning shoppers Saturday.
For a while Saturday morning, shoppers at a Stop & Shop in Provincetown didn’t owe the store even a penny for their groceries.
Their bills were covered, employees told them — and it was all thanks to an anonymous donor.
Store manager Melinda McCarthy told The Cape Cod Times a Provincetown man called up the store on Friday looking for a way to help out, and he ultimately bought $5,000 in store gift cards to cover the bills of anyone who made a purchase.
According to the newspaper, the money benefited folks who went to the store between 6 and 7:30 a.m., which is the time Stop & Shop has designated solely for senior citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. The money was spent by 7:35 a.m.
McCarthy said many customers were in shock over not having to pay for their groceries, the Times reports. The news also brightened the day of store employees, she said.
“A lot of people didn’t understand,” McCarthy said. Some shoppers asked, “Are you kidding me?” she added.
One woman had trouble leaving the store because she was overcome by emotion upon finding out, McCarthy told the newspaper. The woman had said she was about to use all the cash she had left to buy her groceries after she used all of her government-sponsored food assistance, according to the Times.
She wept tears of joy.
Anonymous donor purchases $5K in Stop & Shop gift cards for surprised early morning shoppers in Provincetown https://t.co/IdLPwZm8KJ #CapeCod @BTreffeisenCCT pic.twitter.com/iZFvbcoPai
— Cape Cod Times (@capecodtimes) April 12, 2020
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