Nashville’s Josh Gicker described giving a $3,000 tip to someone he didn’t know at the Mt. Juliet Cracker Barrel Old Country Store on Valentine’s Day as “the best kind of nerves.”
The money was raised by 224 people after Gicker posted a request over social media to raise the money as an act of kindness to present to a random server who turned out to be Danielle Nixon, a nursing student.
Gicker said, “The biggest thing was thinking, ‘What do I say, and how do I perfectly describe this was a labor of love that involved hundreds of people.
Gicker put out feelers about raising money the Tuesday before Valentine’s Day hoping perhaps “a couple hundred dollars could be raised.”
That quickly grew throughout the week, with both a steady volume of donors and a few bigger contributions that included a $500 and $200 gifts.
He added, “So many people were praying for the right person and right moment. It was an answer to prayer that she was a good beneficiary.”
Gicker is a Tampa native and graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, who moved to Nashville two years ago “chasing a dream of music video directing,” he said.
Faith and some recent sermons at Cross Point Church, where Gicker attends, were his motivation to move forward with the idea. Gicker has also worked at some Cracker Barrel stores himself.