Over 900 Cars Pay It Forward at Brainerd Dairy Queen

It was a simple act of kindness by a customer that started the whole thing.

“We had a gentleman come through the drive-thru and pay for the car behind him,” said Brainerd Dairy Queen General Manager Tina Jensen. “‘It might take off, it might not, we will see what happens.'”

What happened was a two-and-a-half day stretch of over 900 cars that paid the bill of the car behind them.

“The excitement of the community was huge and we needed it,” Jensen said. “I know a lot of places that have been hit hard and it means a lot and shows the people in our community that we have each other’s back.”

Even a week after the initial pay-it-forward chain started, Jensen says some customers are coming through the drive-thru hoping to start another chain.

“We did not think it was going to get this big,” Jensen said.

The Dairy Queen is located at 522 C Street NE in Brainerd.