A kindhearted stranger covered the costs of seventy individuals without homes to spend the night in a hotel as the Midwest experienced record-breaking arctic temperatures.

Despite the fact that city officials in Chicago had urged the city’s homeless population to seek refuge in appropriate shelters and warming centers, a group of people who were rough sleeping on the South Side decided to continue sleeping in their tent encampment.

An explosion at a propane tank prompted the dispatch of fire personnel to the campground on Wednesday, which was the second coldest day in Chicago’s recorded history.

There were no reported injuries, however investigators from law enforcement uncovered over one hundred propane tanks in the encampment, which constituted a Level 1 Hazmat danger.

According to Fire Chief Walter Schroeder, who was quoted in The Chicago Tribune, “There was a large amount of propane there.” And with that many cylinders, that’s the equivalent of setting off a bomb.

As a result of the rescuers being obliged to remove the propane, the homeless residents were left without any means of heating in temperatures as low as –20 degrees Fahrenheit (–22 degrees Celsius).

Candice Payne, a local homeowner, stepped up and used her credit card to make a donation after city officials had called employees at the local warming center run by the Salvation Army in order to make accommodations for the individuals who were in danger.

Soon after making contact with the Salvation Army, city workers informed the employees that she had paid for a huge block of hotel rooms to lodge seventy individuals who were homeless for the remainder of the week.

Not only that, but after she tweeted about it, several more generous people came forward to donate further money for other rooms.

This happened after she tweeted about it. They were able to pool their resources and purchase housing for eighty people for three nights. Food was also purchased by Candice and her new group to be distributed to the various rooms.