A man dubbed “Pete the generous” has touched hearts of hundreds of out-of-work in Melbourne, Australia after he handed out some of his wealth to people financially struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the past few days, thousands of people have lined up at Centrelink locations across the city and Pete said he started trembling after seeing the number of people.
“I thought, we’ve got to start doing something about this,” he told 7NEWS.
Pete, 62-years-old and a very successful cafe’ owner, immediately went to the bank and withdrew $10,000 in $100 bills. He then headed straight to the long line of people waiting at the unemployment office and started handing out $100 bills.
“I started at the back of the queue and then basically handed everybody a $100 note,” he said.
“There were tears and disbelief. $100 is not a lot of money, but four or five bags of food meant a lot to these people.”
Pete has been forced to close his cafe in the city and has laid off 12 staff members.
“We’re all traumatised,” he said.