A down-on-her-luck waitress was given an 8,700 per cent tip to kick off 2020.

Forget 2020 vision; an anonymous couple used something called the 2020 tip challenge to help their server at a Michigan restaurant.

Danielle Franzoni works as a waitress at Thunder Bay River Restaurant to provide for her daughters.

A recovering addict, Franzoni was homeless and living in a shelter one year ago. Since then, she started working at a job she loves and has gathered a community of support around her.

"I've been able to root myself in Alpena," Franzoni told the Alpena News.

But the server never expected Sunday, December 29, 2019, to be a day where two strangers' kindness would change her life.

In fact, Franzoni was anticipating a stressful day ahead. She was scheduled to move that day into her first house. That morning, she also learned that her neighbour's home had burned down.

As her shift began, Franzoni could only resolve to tackle the most immediate concern ahead of her: taking care of her customers.

A tip left on one couple's credit card bill changed Franzoni's outlook.

On a $23 bill, the anonymous couple had left Franzoni a note and a surprise. "Danielle, Happy New Year," the bill read. Lower down, "'2020' tip challenge" was written, along with a tip amount of $2,020.

Quickly, Franzoni inquired with her manager about the tip. He assured her that it was, in fact, real. Franzoni was astounded by the couple's generosity.

"They don’t know nothing about my story, they don’t know where I’ve come from, they don’t know how hard it’s been," she says.

"They’re really just doing this out of the kindness of their heart."

Franzoni says she plans to use part of the tip to get her driver's license back. The rest she plans to save for a rainy day.

The 2020 tipping challenge referenced by the anonymous couple seems similar to a 2018 tipping challenge, Tip the Bill, that encouraged customers to tip 100 per cent of their bill.

Franzoni says she went out for dinner the night after receiving the donation. She tipped her server $20.20.

"I couldn't do the other one," she says, referencing her pay-it-forward.