The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world with personal medical debt. This debt—more than $100 billion—has a devastating impact on lives, many times forcing choices between medical bills or food, heat and housing. Medical debt contributes to 60% of US bankruptcies, and makes it tough to buy a home, obtain a loan, or even get a job.

How does RIP Medical Debt help? Like debt collection companies, RIP buys portfolios of debt for pennies on the dollar. However, instead of calling and sending letters to pressure debtors, the organization does something unexpected—RIP sends a letter saying the debt has been forgiven, with no tax consequences. Every dollar raised by RIP erases $100 of debt—and it only takes $10,000 to wipe out $1 million in debt. To date, RIP has eliminated half a billion in medical debt for thousands of people.

In late 2018, RIP Medical Debt began a push to erase debts burdening US military veterans. It may come as a surprise that our veterans’ health care is not completely free in exchange for their service, but in fact 1.3 million uninsured vets have out-of-pocket medical expenses that exceed their disposable income. While the Veterans Administration helps many with medical care, it still denies over $3 billion in claims. Last year RIP Medical Debt abolished $50 million in veterans’ medical debt, and continues its campaign into 2018.

This individual campaign was initiated by Rory Metcalf, a writer and fangirl who loves seeing and performing (even experiencing!) random acts of kindness small and large. She has partnered on several occasions with the charity Random Acts, who funded acts of kindness from a spa day for a tireless volunteer to gifting every teacher in her school district with a gift box from Penzey’s Spices. She chose RIP Medical Debt as a cause in honor of her mother, who is a WWII veteran who served with the WAVES.