More than 1,300 residents of one central Florida city will receive an unexpected letter in the mail about a Thanksgiving gift made by a Lakeland church.
The Lakeland Ledger reports the congregation of Access Church has paid off $1.62 million of outstanding medical debt for low-income Lakeland residents.
Ryan Jordan, the executive pastor at Access Church, said earlier this year a member brought forward the idea of addressing medical debts.
Access Church partnered with New York-based nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt to research the past-due medical debts owed by Lakeland city residents with incomes at or below 50% of the federal poverty line. The total was more than $3 million.