A down-on-her-luck New York waitress was shocked last week when she was given a $3,000 tip on a $43.50 bill.

The gift, however, did not come without conditions.

On the back of the receipt were three stipulations written by the anonymous philanthropist.

The diner said that ReesSpechtLife was a pay-it-forward blog that was started by Ray Specht – his old middle school science teacher – after his son Rees drowned in 2012. Though the diner hadn't been taught by the grieving educator in over 10 years, he still fondly remembered his charismatic teaching.

The waitress – who was grateful for the gratuity since she was about to be evited from her apartment – respected the request and posted a photo of the receipt to ReesSpechtLife where it was then seen by Ray.

"In staring at that receipt, I never noticed the name and it wasn't until I read the note did I realize that it was a former student of mine," said Ray. "I immediately recalled who he was and realized that I had him at least ten years ago. This young man used to come up to my room to talk with me and I remember many of our conversations that we had over the course of that year."

"To think that someone I had a decade ago would honor my little boy or even remember his 8th grade science teacher in such a way blows me away. In an age where politicians wish to identify ‘high effective' teachers simply by test scores and data points, this moment could not be better timed."

Click To Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends – Photo by ReesSpechtLife