The donors, who put their names on the cheque but wish to remain anonymous to the public, have said that when they were first married they would often rely on discarded food from local grocery stores.

They also said that they wanted to honour one of their fathers, who had served in World War I and was always grateful to the Salvation Army Donut Lassies who brought soldiers free coffee and donuts.

“You get to a point in life where it’s time to take care of others, the way you were taken care of,” the donors said.

One day earlier, the Twin Cities Commander Major Jeff Strickler of the Northern Division of the Salvation Army had issued a statement, saying, “We have an ambitious, but achievable goal of raising $11.6 million dollars during our Christmas campaign. As of right now, we are over half a million dollars behind where we were at this time last year.”

The anonymous donors say they made the gift in hopes of encouraging others to give as generously as they can.

The largest donation received by the Red Kettle in the Twin Cities prior to this was $25,000.

The Salvation Army has served 186,000 people in the Twin Cities in 2015, providing 9,000 winter coats to children and groceries to over 100,000 individuals.

Image: Salvation Army | Flickr