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Anonymous Gift of Rare Gold Coin Inspires “Heart of Gold Challenge”

It all started with a man in a truck.

Every year during our annual Kids’ NewsDay fundraiser, a mystery donor drives up to our spot at the NBC building in downtown San Diego and hands us a gift. Sometimes he gives us an envelope stuffed with cash. Other times his gift is more unique, like the year he donated a peanut butter jar full of silver dollars. One thing always remains the same: he wants to remain anonymous. 

This year’s gift was the most intriguing of all. Inside the envelope, in addition to $200 in cash, we found five old U.S. coins.

We brought them to a local coin shop to see how much they were worth.

Much to our amazement, the shop owner appraised one of the coins at $1700!  The other coins brought the total value to $1765.50.

But it gets better.  The coin store owner, Chad Martin, was so touched by the man’s generosity that he pledged to match that amount and donate it to Rady Children’s.

This selfless example of paying it forward inspired us to launch the Heart of Gold Challenge.

We’re hoping that others will also be touched by this story of giving, and reach into their hearts to help the sick and injured children at Rady Children’s.

"This is such an inspiring example of paying ot forward," said Carol Damon-Scherer, Vice President of Development for Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation.  "We are so impressed by the example Chad has set, and hope that his selfless act will encourage others to follow in his footsteps."

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