Here's an article I found - does anyone have any similar stories to share?
IN the weeks just before Christmas of 1933 75 years ago a mysterious offer appeared in The Repository, the daily newspaper here. It was addressed to all who were suffering in that other winter of discontent known as the Great Depression. The bleakest of holiday seasons was upon them, and the offer promised modest relief to those willing to write in and speak of their struggles. In return, the donor, a Mr. B. Virdot, pledged to provide a check to the neediest to tide them over the holidays.
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Then, this past summer, my mother handed me a battered old black suitcase that had been gathering dust in her attic. I flipped open the twin latches and found a mass of letters, all dated December 1933. There were also 150 canceled checks signed by B. Virdot, and a tiny black bank book with $760 in deposits.
My mother, Virginia, had always known the secret: the donor was her father, Samuel J. Stone. The fictitious moniker was a blend of his daughters names Barbara, Virginia and Dorothy. But Mother had never told me, and when she handed me the suitcase she had no idea what was in it some old papers, she said. The suitcase had passed into her possession shortly after the death of my grandmother Minna in 2005.
