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Staff at a grocery store in Antigonish, N.S., were recipients of an anonymous cash gift recently that they decided to 'pay forward' by buying four orders of groceries for seniors.The Canadian Press

After staff at a grocery store in Antigonish, N.S., recently received an anonymous cash gift, they decided to “pay it forward” by using the money to buy groceries for seniors.

Patti Hilton, manager of the Atlantic Superstore, said a man dropped off 10 sealed envelopes for store staff on Monday bearing messages such as “Thank you for working,” and “Thank you for all you’re doing during COVID-19.”

“I took them upstairs and wasn’t quite sure what it was,” Ms. Hilton said in an interview Wednesday.

She said she opened one of the envelopes and was surprised by what she found inside.

“Lo and behold, there was $40 in the envelope and there were 10 envelopes … so there was $400 that this generous person had dropped off.”

Ms. Hilton said that during her staff’s daily meeting, it was decided to “pay forward” the generous gesture by buying four $100 grocery orders for local seniors.

“They are so vulnerable right now and a lot of them can’t get out,” Ms. Hilton said.

She said the store is working with an official who works with seniors in the Antigonish area to distribute the groceries – two orders have already been sent, and the remaining two were to be distributed later Wednesday.

Ms. Hilton said the store employees are appreciative of support they have received from shoppers and they wanted to do something for the community.

“It’s a good feeling when there’s not so much good going on right now in the world,” she said.

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