WINNIPEG -- Children in Winnipeg recently received free ice cream, thanks to the generous donation of an anonymous individual.

On Saturday, a customer came into Sweet Annie’s Bake Shop, and purchased ice cream cones for the first 50 customers, and then left the store.

“We had somebody come in first thing as soon as we opened, at around 2 p.m., and they said, I want to come in and purchase 50 ice cream cones, but I don’t want them, I want to give them to the kids throughout the day,” said Lindsey Feener, part-owner of the shop.

Feener said this was the first time this has happened at the store, and she even had to ask the man again to make sure she heard correctly. The man was charged for a gift certificate, and the shop was able to hand out a small cone or a single scoop of ice cream to children for free on Saturday.

“People were so happy with it,” she said, noting the price for 50 one-scoop ice cream cones totals $210.01.

Feener said the man didn’t reveal his name or why he was purchasing the ice cream, just leaving the store after the purchase was complete.

“I’m going to assume he was a local in the community, maybe Windsor Park or Southdale, but I didn’t recognize him, and he didn’t leave a name, but he made a lot of kids very, very happy on Saturday,” she said.

The shop went through 47 free cones on Saturday, with the remaining three redeemed on Sunday.

Feener has a message for the anonymous purchaser.

“I would say a huge thank you,” she said. “What you did that day may have seemed small, but I was here the whole day, and I saw all the joy on the kids’ faces, and it was just incredible, a bit of light in all of the negative going on these days.”

Feener added the store would love to give the man a treat on the house for his generosity if he returns.