Colts owner Jim Irsay, with a bag of cash in hand, surprises workers at Jacksonville hotel
A hotel housekeeper named Karen, a hard-working, sometimes struggling mother of two sons, was in the middle of her shift at a Jacksonville, Fla., hotel Saturday night -- the hotel where Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay happened to be staying for the team's Sunday game against the Jaguars.
As Karen stepped out into the hallway after cleaning a 17th floor hotel room, wearing black scrubs with her cart of supplies at her side, Irsay approached her with a drawstring bag filled with wads of cash.
He handed Karen a few stacks of $100 bills, thousands of dollars in all. Irsay was in Jacksonville handing out $10,000 "tips" Saturday night.
"God bless you for your hard work," Irsay said to the housekeeper, as she broke into tears in a video he shared with IndyStar. "Just sending love to you."
The two embraced. Karen told Irsay thank you, though she could barely get those two words out of her mouth. Irsay told her how much he appreciated her dedication. He told her he knew life wasn't always easy. He talked about his grandmother, who was a hardworking, blue-collar woman.
"You go and take care of your family," Irsay said. "God bless you, sweetheart. Enjoy."
Irsay left Karen, nearly in tears himself, picked up his bag of cash, and he moved to the lobby of his hotel, where he found a musician playing the guitar.
Irsay, who was being recorded on video, turned to the camera and said: "We are going to take care of the musicians of the world, the real musicians playing the real music."
He walked toward the guitar player and said, "Hello, my good fellow. We are here to bring you tremendous ...." Irsay laid down $10,000 on the table next to the musician, who could barely keep playing.
"Oh, my goodness," he said. "Wow."
Irsay thanked that guitar player for his gift of music, and he told him about the 300 guitars he owns, including relics of Elvis Presley, Prince, Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia's famous Tiger guitar, which he played from 1979 to 1989.
"I love to hear your playing. I want to drop this blessing toward you," Irsay told the guitarist, who continued to play in awe. "This is a man who is making the real sounds happen out there. Listen to that guitar playing. That's good picking right here."
'This is my ministry'
Irsay arrived in Jacksonville this weekend on a mission. He talked to IndyStar on Saturday night, after those two encounters with the housekeeper and the guitar player, and other workers he surprised with large gifts of cash.
"How many times do we walk into hotels and just walk past people that are working; bellhops, people that are behind the desk, as if they're artificial intelligence robots, for god's sake," Irsay said. "When you're blessed, when you're given blessings, when God blesses you with a lot, God asks a lot in return."
Irsay said for the past 25 years he's had a passion to identify people in need, to look them in the eye, ask them about their families, ask them what their names are, ask them what their stories are, and bless them.
"It's always difficult times trying to raise a family, trying to have enough money to pay your bills, your groceries, to have a roof over your head," Irsay said. "All those things are tough, so that's my ministry."
Irsay said he wants to bring joy, happiness and peace of mind to people, especially strangers who are fighting to survive. He wants them to know they are not alone.
"Like Karen on the 17th floor, every day I wake up and think, 'How can I make the world better? How can I change it?'" he said. "One person at a time. One person at a time."
Irsay recited the lyrics of a song that inspires him daily, "Imagine," by John Lennon. "You may say I'm a dreamer; but I'm not the only one."
"And isn't that the truth?" he said. "It's a ministry of unconditional love and of being of service and serving God and changing the community, sometimes one person at a time, because a teaspoon of inspiration can change an ocean."
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay hands out $10K to hotel workers
