MURRAY, Ky. — A $140,000 gift is the largest in the a charity group's 26-year history. The United Way says it will help keep programs once endangered afloat.
One sticker at a time, The United Way is one step closer to their goal of $290,000.
But as Aaron Dail applies the red block stickers and fits them into a paper thermometer out the BB&T bank he says they are not just stickers.
"They're a smiley face for a kid, a program that'll help people."
Dail said the large donation came just in time.
"We didn't really know what was going to happen," he said of keeping the group's 10 programs afloat.
The man behind the donation is businessman Chuck Jones, head of an IT company in Murray.
He said for years he has kept his gifts anonymous but wanted to inspire with this latest gift.
"What we finally decided was instead of keeping it a secret, let's put it out there and maybe it'll get the next person to step up and do something."
He said of the donation he and wife Sarah made, "I made a deal with myself and I said, 'If I can create a company and make some money, then I'll give a good piece of it back."
And that is exactly what he did Thursday.
"It's awesome to see it growing," Dail said of the now mainly red thermometer.
Some of the programs the Jones' have helped keep afloat include the Merryman House, Need Line, the Senior Citizens Center, and the Red Cross.
The Murray-Calloway County United Way is now just $19,000 short of their fund-raising goal.
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