The final item on Aaron Collins’ will started with one act of kindness and snowballed into something much bigger.
Seth Collins, Aaron’s older brother, completed Aaron’s dying wish of leaving a server at a restaurant a $500 tip. He said Aaron always took great joy in unexpected kindness.
“Aaron never thought what he was doing was a big deal,” Seth said. “So he would have thought, one time, something nice to do for a person. It made that person happy and that’s what he wanted. He would have never predicted any of this.”
The video of Seth giving away that first $500 after his brother’s death in July 2012 went viral online. Since then, more than $60,000 has poured in from donors around the world so Seth can continue dishing out $500 tips.
On July 7, Seth was in Indianapolis and stopped in a pizza restaurant to eat and give away another $500. The large tip went to a waitress who said she’s a teacher looking for a job and going through a hard time.
She cried, thanked Seth and gave him a hug.
Seth said he plans to travel to every state and continue tipping $500 once a week with the donated money.
“It never gets old,” he said. “I knew after the third one that it was never going to get old.”
