Tyler Perry pays for seniors’ groceries at 44 metro area Kroger stores

ATLANTA — Walter McDuffie, 89, wasn't the only one inside metro area Krogers who thought he was getting pranked.

Ray Metoyer also thought Kroger workers were pulling a fast one on him.

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“And they say, ‘Congrats, Tyler Perry just bought all your groceries. And all the seniors in here.’ I was like, ‘Is it candid camera or what? What’s up?’ Metoyer said.

He couldn’t believe it and neither could Avis Weaver.

She wanted to know what was going on when a cashier zeroed the total for her groceries.

“And I said, ‘Why is it zero?’ (They said that) Tyler Perry paid for this. I said. ‘What?’,” Weaver said.

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McDuffie got emotional when he realized what happened.

“Anytime something good happens it seems I get emotional,” McDuffie said.

Metoyer says all the news about the coronavirus and people losing jobs has been depressing.

“We need good news like this, and it was just so good to hear and to know that somebody was reaching out,” Metoyer said.

The McDuffies want the world to know what a treasure Atlanta has in Tyler Perry.

“He’s a good guy he’s a good man,” Gwen McDuffie said

“He’s a fine man. A fine gentleman,” Walter McDuffie agreed.

On Sunday, Perry left a $500 tip for every single out-of-work server at Houston’s restaurant on Northside Parkway. It was a grand total of $21,000.

Perry is known for his acts of charity around the city, but also around the world. Last year, he paid for a murder victim’s funeral expenses, her daughter’s college expenses at Spelman and made sure her family wasn’t evicted. Police said Tynesha Evans’ boyfriend killed her at a bank in North Fulton County in March of 2019.

Also in 2019, Perry flew a private plane full of supplies to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian devastated the islands.

In 2018, Perry pad off $400k in Christmas layaways at two Atlanta-area Walmarts.

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