Needing money to help pay for her senior prom, 18-year-old Kelsey Tolliver was selling newspapers on Easter Sunday inside University Hospital.
That’s when she got an Easter gift and her prom wishes fulfilled by a stranger.
“Some man walked up to me, smiled, told me Happy Easter and to keep the change,” Tolliver said today.
She looked down and believed the man gave her $4 for the $1.50 Sunday newspaper, an amount she considered “a pretty good tip.”
After a moment, though, the bills felt too thick to be just four $1 bills.
She counted it – and lost her breath.
In addition to the smile and Easter greetings, the man had given her $500 in $20 bills and the four $1 bills.
“By the time I looked up, he was gone,” Tolliver said from her mom’s Springfield Township home.
“I really didn’t know what to do. I wanted to cry but I couldn’t do that because I was selling newspapers and that would look bad. I wanted to scream but that would look bad, too.”
Tolliver is staying at her mom’s Springfield Township home this week because her school is on spring break.
She usually lives with her dad in Patriot, Ind., about 60 miles away. She attends Switzerland County Senior High.
Tolliver can’t imagine why the man – described as white with light brown hair, about 6 feet tall and in his mid-20s – would give her that much money.
“He didn’t look like he worked at the hospital. I’m guessing he was a visitor,” Tolliver said.
She’d never seen the man before – and hasn’t since.
She said she gave half of the money to her stepdad and used the rest to pay for her dress and other items for the April 12 prom at General Butler State Park in Carrollton, Ky.
“I already had my prom dress in layaway and I only owed $80 on it,” Tolliver said. “I went yesterday (Monday) and got it out.”
In addition to the $120 red dress, Tolliver also used the money to help pay for her silver shoes, purse and other accessories as well as for her share of the limo ride. She and eight or nine friends are attending the prom as a group.
“I just want to thank this guy. Bless his heart,” she said.
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