A Washington state news anchor – along with the local station that he works for – is paying off over $1 million in medical debt for their viewers.
Jesse Jones, who is a cancer survivor and reporter for KIRO 7 News, went on-air earlier this week and said that – for just $12,000 – he and the station had bought up the medical debt of 1,000 viewers.
The randomly selected viewers will be receiving yellow envelopes from KIRO during the coming week – and none of them know that it’s coming.
“Medical debt is a subject near and dear to my heart and my wallet,” said Jones. “I’m a cancer survivor who has survived medical debt. I have been on payment plans, and I also have a job and insurance – but there are others out there who are not as fortunate as I am.”
All of the finances were processed through the New York-based charity “RIP Medical Debt”: a nonprofit that locates, buys and forgives unpaid and unpayable medical debt for Americans, no strings attached.
If you feel spurred to also help the news station pay off more debt, you can visit their donation web page.
This article originally appeared on Good News Network.