Talk about a great way to ring in the new year!
Blue Blood actor Donnie Wahlberg and wife Jenny McCarthy stopped by an IHOP near their home and their server, Bethany Provencher, couldn’t believe who was at her table on New Year’s day. In an interview with PEOPLE, Provencher said “I didn’t want to freak out at the table, so I went into the bathroom and freaked out a little. I was like, ‘oh my god!’”
What she didn’t expect after serving the couple was a generous tip from the one and only New Kids on the Block member. Wahlberg gave his server a $2,020 tip and wrote “Happy New Year 2020 Tip Challenge” on the receipt.
McCarthy took to Twitter to share the sweet gesture.
The IHOP server said Wahlberg told her not to open the folded receipt until they left. “Then I opened it, and I almost fell to the floor.” Provencher couldn’t believe it, and the kind gesture put her in tears. “I just moved into an apartment, I’m a single mother, by myself with my son. So I struggle every day to make ends meet. And now I can buy furniture and put some money in the bank, and make sure my son is good.”
Wahlberg called the restaurant moments after and Provencher was able to thank him and McCarthy for the tip.
