In 2018, two women in Ithaca, New York, set out to help people struggling with unpaid medical bills, although neither had the means to pay off large debts individually. As reported by The New York Times, Judith Jones, a retired chemist, and Carolyn Kenyon, a psychoanalyst, organised a local fundraising campaign and collected $12,500 over several months. They sent the money to a nonprofit that buys overdue medical bills for a fraction of their face value before cancelling them. The contribution enabled the organisation to acquire a portfolio worth $1.5 million in medical debt, benefiting 1,284 New Yorkers who had no prior connection to the two women. For those recipients, the relief arrived in the form of an unexpected letter.
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