Gift Of A Stranger: WCCO Viewer Makes Donation To Widow Of Innocent Driver

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Twin Cities woman is receiving an outpouring of support from people she's never met.

Martha Perea lost her husband earlier this month after a driver racing away from police crashed into him.

The victim's wife spoke with WCCO's Christiane Cordero the next morning.

Christiane immediately heard from several viewers who offered to help. One of those viewers stands out, not just by what she donated, but how she did it.

When Jose Angel Madrid died on May 1, his wife Martha lost more than her husband.

She lost her family's sole provider. And she lost her way.

"Right now we don't know. We don't have the head space to know what will happen, or what we're going to do. We'll see," said Martha Perea. "The truth is, we're alone completely without money, without anything. We are practically alone, we don't have anything."

But she wasn't alone for long.

"I was really sad for her, for her family," said Alex Nelson.

Alex Nelson immediately reached out to WCCO, saying she'd like to donate $2,500 on behalf of the company she works for, Bell Bank.

It has what's called a Pay it Forward program that gives full-time employees $2,500 every year to donate to the cause of their choice.

It can be a charity, a family in need -- whatever moves them.

For Nelson, it was more than a donation. This was personal, having moved here from the Dominican Republic 26 years ago.

"I could not speak English when I moved here," said Nelson.

But she learned, little by little.

"I'm a very outgoing person so having my husband translate everything for me or not showing my true personality, it was really hard," said Nelson.

And she quickly found her voice.

A friendship that formed in tragedy will continue in part because of a company, and a whole lot of Minnesota Nice.

"Sometimes when these things happen they'll get immediate help and that's it," explained Nelson. "And I want to make sure she knows she'll get help now and she'll get help later on, too."

A local church also helped set up a GoFundMe page for Martha's family.

So far it has raised more than $12,000 to help cover medical and funeral bills and living expenses.