When you lose someone, that grief can take over your world for some time. But when the person who is gone was larger than life, that hole can seem too large to fill. For one small town in Alabama, though, when they lost a friend, the grief was given a huge band aid thanks to the man who died. Even in death, he found a way to keep loving his town.

Hody Childress was a farmer, who had once served in the U.S. Air Force. When he was back in his hometown of Geraldine, he made a good life for himself and his family. But he kept a secret from them, one they are just now learning about. It has made all the difference in their grief.

Childress, back in 2012, walked into a local pharmacy, Geraldine Drugs. When he was talking to the owner, the news outlet WVTM reported, Childress learned that oftentimes there are people who couldn’t afford their medicines.

Hody Childress sits on his tractor. Photo by Tania Nix

When the veteran learned that, he promptly gave the owner, Brooke Walker, $100, and told her to save it for “anyone who can’t afford their prescription,” WVTM reported.

Do not tell a soul that money came from me,” Walker recalled Childress saying. “If they ask, just tell them it’s a blessing from the Lord.”

Childress went back to the pharmacy monthly for more than 10 years. The pharmacy was a sort of gathering place for the town’s more than 900 residents. Each time, Childress would hand Walker $100 and tell her to just tell anyone she could help with it, that it was simply a “blessing from God.”

According to news reports, Childress donated thousands of dollars to the pharmacy fund, where even members of his own family shopped, not knowing what he did each month. Walker told reporters that Childress’ donations were enough to help two people monthly who lacked insurance or benefits to cover their prescriptions.

Sadly, Childress began struggling with health issues, and as he realized his time left was growing shorter, he finally told someone his secret. His daughter, Tania Nix. He asked her to take his donations to the pharmacy for him, but to keep it secret. Nix carried out her dad’s request, telling Walker, “I was shocked – I had no idea that he was helping people at the drugstore,” WVTM reported.

Tania Nix with her father, Hody Childress

“He told me he’d been carrying a $100 bill to the pharmacist in Geraldine on the first of each month, and he didn’t want to know who she’d helped with it – he just wanted to bless people with it,” Nix, 58, told reporters.

After Childress passed away Jan. 1, his daughter let those at his funeral in on his secret good deed. As word spread through town, his friends, as well as strangers alike, began donating to the pharmacy fund, as well. Since his story has gone viral, both Nix and Walker have gotten calls and messages from people all over the country wanting to help out, as well.

Walker said recently that a man called from Miami. He said he wanted to donate some money, but that if she didn’t need it this month, he would go to his local pharmacy. What he said next shows the how a good deed can help ease grief over the loss of someone: He would start his own “Hody Childress” pharmacy donation account.