Former Foster Child and Trinity Bible College Student Working as Cracker Barrel Waitress Gets $6,000 Tip to Enroll in School Again
An 18-year-old waitress is heading back to college to work on her youth ministry and psychology degree after receiving a $6,100 tip from two patrons she served at a Nebraska Cracker Barrel.
After Abigail Sailors served the two customers, she was surprised to discover a $100 bill as a tip and two additional checks on the table totaling $6,000, one written out to Trinity Bible College in the amount of $5,000, to cover Sailors' tuition for the upcoming semester.
"I couldn't believe it. I tried to thank them, and they said, 'thank God,'" said Sailors, according to Nebraska-based Journal Star.
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Before receiving the large tip, the men had walked into the restaurant for lunch last week asking to be seated with the grumpiest server. Upon being told that they did not employ such servers by the hostess, the two were seated at Sailors' table where she said they kept asking her questions.
She told them about being placed in the foster care system along with her four siblings because her parents were unable to care for them after enduring a near fatal car accident when she was a baby. Her mother suffered a brain injury and her father was unfit to maintain custody over them. Sailors was eventually reunited with her siblings under the same roof when a couple fostered them years ago.
Despite her past and current struggling circumstance, Sailors shared with the men that she was planning to put herself through school but didn't have enough money for the spring semester, so she was saving her wages and tips to add to her financial aid.
When they finished their meal, one of the men told her he was a Trinity alumnus and proceeded to write out the checks. It was hard to believe for Sailors, who along with her siblings, had experienced "all the horror stories you hear about foster care," according to her sister.
"I'm just thankful. Everything we went through, my attitude is, God blessed me with a lot of things. I'm doing good. That's all that matters to me," said Sailors.
Now, she plans to enroll in school again and become a part of the college women's basketball team.
Her story is just one of many that have made national headlines in recent months. Back in December, a New York City student at Parsons School of Design received a $7,000 tip from former PayPal executive, Jack Shelby, the man reportedly behind the ultra-generous "Tips for Jesus" movement. Since September of last year, the donors behind Tips for Jesus have left tens of thousands worth in tips throughout restaurants in the United States and Mexico.
It is unknown whether Sailors' patrons are a part of the tips movement since she has decided to keep their identities anonymous.
