now that's the holiday spirit.
right before christmas, and at the height of the great depression, a guy in ohio offered “modest relief to those willing to write in and speak of their struggles.”
letters poured in. checks got sent - some as little as $5.
the donor never revealed his name but was also known to perform other acts of kindness. right before WWII he sent hundreds of wool overcoats to British soldiers with an unsigned, handwritten note in the pocket of each, urging them not to give in to despair and expressing America’s support.
this anonymous philanthropist “sought no credit for acts of conscience. he saw them as the debt we owe one another and ourselves.”
[the mystery man, “B. Virdot,” some of the checks he sent, and letters he received from the desperate residents of Canton, Ohio.]
