Valley man gives away $1000 gift card, helps 7500 other people

PHOENIX - Many people dream of winning money and prizes, but a Valley man gave away a $1000 gift card after winning it.

Daniel Taube won a pair of Arizona Cardinals tickets and a $1000 Albertson’s gift card during a contest at the grocery store earlier this month.

But after talking with his wife, the couple decided the family did not need the money as much as others.

“Me and my wife are fortunate to work right now, and have a job and we're able to put food on our table and we thought the best way to do this is lets reach back to the community, and see if we can help feed some people with this money,” said Taube.

Knowing others are struggling just to eat, Taube donated the card to the St. Mary's Food Bank.

“The first goal me and my wife talked about was let’s see if we can feed 100 people,” said Taube.

It turns out they would end up helping thousands.

After hearing about Taube's generosity, Albertson's, the Arizona Cardinals, and Knight Transportation each matched his donation.

St. Mary's Food Bank said the $4,000 donations will now help provide more than 7500 hundred meals to people.

People like Sonja Jones who stood in line on Wednesday to receive a Thanksgiving meal.

“He's helping people he doesn’t even know. I'm here benefiting off his gift card and I'm able to feed myself on that day so that means a lot,” said Jones.

Others in line knew the kindness of strangers is what put food on their table for the holiday.

“This means a beautiful dinner on my table this year. I just had surgery and I wouldn't be able to have this meal without these giving people,” said Kathy Hall.