SALEM, Ore. (KOIN) — Brian Stone, his wife and their 2 kids went to the Brew Festival at Riverfront Park in Salem this past Saturday. It was warm, so they left their car window opened just a bit.
When they came back to their car, they found a crisp $100 bill on their front seat. At first, Stone said he didn’t think that much about it, because he knew his wife had pulled some money out earlier in the day to pay a bill.
But she said she left that money at their home.
“She said, ‘You know what? I wonder if it’s that one guy that leaves $100 bills all over town,’Stone said.
“I take it out and it’s a perfectly crisp $100 bill, folded up absolutely perfectly. And she’s like, ‘Look for the signature.’ So I opened it and, lo and behold, it said ‘Benny’ right there on the bottom.”
Amie Good lives in Hawaii, but she was visiting family in Keizer when she went into a Goodwill store to buy a beach bag.
“When I got to the car I saw $100 inside,” Good told KOIN 6 News. “From ‘Benny.’ Totally unexpected, especially in a dollar bag from Goodwill.”
She said she had been “trying to figure out how I was going to get everything on the plane. You know, you have to pay for every bag and money is pretty tight,” she said. “We’re just farmers in Hawaii.”
Good has 5 kids and wants Benny to know he’s always welcome.
“Thank you so much and if you ever want to come to a permaculture farm on The Big Island, find me.”
The Statesman Journal has been tracking Benny for 3 years. By their tally, Benny has slyly given away more than $50,000 — at Fred Meyer and Walmart stores, inside items, at a vendor’s booth in Salem, at non-profits, food banks and schools and many other spots.
Who is Benny?
“Benny, I think, is just a nice gentleman that comes through and likes to pass out $100 bills to people who need them,” said Bryan Eldridge, the operations manager at the Salem Riverfront Carousel.
He said people have found Benny-bills twice in his gift shop, “and several people said he was there dropping off $100 bills in tip jars at food trucks.”
Eldridge said Benny has inspired him. He hides tokens on the carousel “so little kids would be able to enjoy the same thing.”
As for what Benny does, Eldridge said, “I think it’s awesome. It gives me goose bumps.”
Brian Stone said he thinks Benny chose their car because they had 2 car seats in the back.
“I think he tends to bring it out at times when people could use it the most, not just in their life, but the world in general,” Stone said.
“We really thank him and it’s really appreciated,” Stone said. “It was a big, big help.”
But the Stone family doesn’t want to know who Benny is.
“I just feel like it’s better if no one does know. That way he can keep giving the way he does.”