A couple dropped a $500,000 check into a Salvation Army red kettle outside a grocery store in suburban Minneapolis, and it was for real.
Officials of the Salvation Army in Minnesota and North Dakota wasted little time cashing the check, according to The Associated Press.
Spokeswoman Annette Bauer said it was the biggest check ever in the Minneapolis area and likely the biggest ever in the two states.
Bauer said the couple has a history of donations and prefers to remain anonymous. She said they alerted Salvation Army officials that the check was coming on Saturday and asked them to open the kettle and remove the check before volunteers who count donations could see their names.
Bauer called it "an astonishing gift" at a time when the division was running about a half-million dollars behind the same point last year.