Joe Kalish, owner of Grayson Jewelers in Grayson, Ga., recently made the lives of a few lucky residents much easier by paying their mortgage or rent for a month.

All Grayson residents can enter the drawing, even if they have never purchased anything in the store. They only need to drop their information into a fishbowl that sits on the counter. On the last day of every other month, Grayson mayor Jim Hinkle pulls out a name and awards the winner a mortgage or rent payment.

Kalish says his store, which he runs with his wife, Beth, has been doing very well: “We asked ourselves, ‘What do people need in this economy?’?” Buoyed by the success of his mortgage payment promotion, Kalish wanted to up the ante for Christmas. His plan: to work with Hinkle to determine which families are most in need during the holidays, and—with the help of a few business friends—pay for the families’ gifts and meals.

“There’s still a lot of money around here, but there are a lot of families that need help,” he says.