Man buys $2,500 worth of groceries for shoppers at Culmore Supermarket

Michael Megonigal and his daughter, Marley, at Culmore Supermarket. [Photos: Alex Lee]

A crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, with so many people facing financial hardships, can sometimes bring out the best in people.

That was the case at the Culmore Supermarket in Bailey’s Crossroads on Saturday, when Michael Megonigal decided to help the community by paying $2,500 for customers’ groceries.

Marley and Mirian Calero, Culmore Supermarket manager.

In a story first reported in the Washington Post, Megonigal and his 11-year-old daughter, Marley, were in the checkout line when the customer in front realized she was short of money and started putting some items back. On an impulse, he paid the woman’s grocery bill and then started paying for other people in line.

Megonigal said he would cover people’s grocery bills up to $1,000, then kept going, store owner Alex Lee told the Annandale Blog,  “He kept saying let it ride,” as the bill climbed to $1,600 and then continued, finally stopping when the bill reached $2,523.32, as customers and employees cheered and clapped.

When the last customer was in line, she kept asking, “is this real?” Lee recalls. She only had three items, so Marley ran to the back of the store and picked up rice, beans, and other things for her.

“It’s a great thing he did,” Lee says of Megonigal. “A lot of people in the neighborhood live literally paycheck to paycheck. “We’re truly a blue-collar neighborhood.” The store is surrounded by subsidized apartments, and many residents have lost their jobs as restaurants and retail businesses have closed.

Megonigal grew up in the area, graduated from what was then called JEB Stuart High School, and now works at Caliber Collision in Arlington.

According to Lee, Marley comes to the store frequently for twirl rainbow ice cream. When they stopped in at the store just to buy a snack, Megonigal was already thinking about ways to help the community, and on an impulse started paying for groceries.

“We’re lucky what we have. We just want to give back. We love everybody,” Megonigal says in a video taken by Lee.

After paying for groceries, people were “really happy, really grateful,” Megonigal told the Post. “They just said thank you and God bless you. Most of them don’t even speak English, to be honest with you. It was a great feeling.”