Couple leaves half-million-dollar check in Salvation Army kettle

The donation was made at a grocery store location and is the largest ever made into a red kettle in the Twin Cities area, according to a local report.

The previous record was $25,000, according to the report, and a typical kettle collects about $30 an hour.

The bell ringers at the kettle where the donation was made did not know it had been deposited. But a Salvation Army manager knew it was coming and picked it up personally, according to the charity.

In charity said the couple said they were making the donation to encourage others to give. They made it in memory of one of their fathers, a WWI soldier who was grateful for the Salvation Army’s offer of free coffee and doughnuts to veterans.

They also said they themselves had undergone poverty in their lifetime and recalled having to rely on discarded food from a grocery store to feed themselves.

“You get to a point in life where it's time to take care of others, the way you were taken care of," the donors in a statement by the Salvaation Army.