A great Washington Post story from Vinita, Oklahoma where a local restauranteur began posting receipts as prepaid meal tickets. The receipts are hanging on a “Giving Wall” where anyone who is hungry and unable to pay can take a receipt, sit down and order a meal. Customers are contributing so some homeless residents can drop in for a meal. Many are also adding tips for waitstaff so that there’s no expectation of cash from those who can’t pay.

“When someone comes through who needs a meal, they can select something,” said Hilburn. “There are 25 or 30 tickets up there now and it never typically goes below that.”

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This is an idea that appears to have begun in Oklahoma, but it is such a simple concept it can be quickly implemented by any restaurant, anywhere. It makes a paper receipt far more useful than usual.