Donations from a Central Indiana church congregation helped wipe out $2 million in debt for 2,500 families, WTHR reported.
Members of the Northview Church in Carmel raised the money and partnered with the charity RIP Medical Debt to ease the financial burden for the Indiana families, the television station reported. RIP Medical Debt buys debts for pennies on the dollar for families in need.
Northview took money from its Dollar Club donations to raise the $20,000, WXIN reported. The Dollar Club is a fundraiser the church conducts four times a year, according to the Indianapolis Star.
"We have around 10,000 people that come, so we collect around $10,000 when we do a Dollar Club," Northview senior pastor Steve Poe told WXIN. "This time we collected right at $20,000, so with that $20,000, when we gave that to RIP Medical Debt, they will be able to pay off over $2 million dollars in debt."
Poe said he got the idea for erasing medical debt after reading about a church in Evansville that helped wipe out $1.5 million in debt. The Dollar Club was the perfect outlet to raise the cash.
>> Indiana church helps wipe out $1.5M in medical debt for families
"We say, 'What can you buy with a buck?' Not much. But when everyone comes together, that gives us a lot of leverage," Poe told the Star.
Instead of $1, Poe asked the congregation to donate $3, since RIP Medical Debt seeks a minimum donation of $15,000, the newspaper reported.
Mission accomplished.
Letters will go out in the next few weeks to the families whose debt has been erased, WXIN reported. The families are chosen at random, according to WTHR.
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