A single mother from Naples, Fla., scratched a lottery ticket last week and thought she’d won a fortune before realizing the ticket was a fake; members of her community were touched by her disappointment and lent a helping hand.

Mary Ann Shaffer works at a concession stand selling hot dogs and water. Last week, a customer handed her a lottery ticket. She scratched it and to her great surprise, found she had won $25,000. The surprise did not end here though, as the ticket soon proved to be a fake.

On its back, where Shaffer quickly looked for a phone number, was the following text, as quoted by the Associated Press:

“Claim forms supplied by Santa Claus. All winning tickets must be validated by the tooth fairy and conform to her game rules ... All winners are losers and must have an excellent sense of humor,” the ticket read.

Shaffer swallowed her disappointment best as she could. Word of the joke got round though and people were touched. A single mother of two young children, the money would have been a “miracle,” as she herself told the Naples Daily News, reports the AP.

A local police officer who examined the ticket sympathized with the woman, saying, “How can anyone be so mean around Christmas time?”

In the days that followed, locals inspired by the magnanimity of Christmas started giving her cards, gift certificates and generous tips. One regular brought presents for her kids, according to the AP.

The bitter disappointment soon became a pleasant surprise for the woman, including material help as well as the moral support of her community. While $25,000 would have been a grand Christmas gift, perhaps the unconditional warmth of people who are more or less strangers is not a bad present either.