A mother of two, with another on the way, Franzoni was in the middle of court battles to get her daughters back after kicking an addiction that cost her kids, her home, and her hope.

When two customers on Dec. 29, 2019 left behind a receipt marked “Happy New Year — 2020 tip challenge,” indicating a $2,020 tip on a $23 bill, Franzoni was speechless.

“They have no idea how much they changed our lives,” Franzoni said a year later, surrounded by her daughters in the living room of their Alpena County home. “No idea.”

***

News Photo by Julie Riddle Surrounded by her daughters, Savannah, Neveah, and baby Amayah in their new Alpena County home, waitress Danielle Franzoni celebrates the family that’s been brought together with the help of a generous tip at the start of 2020.

The feel-good story of Franzoni’s tip, left by a Petoskey couple who wish to remain anonymous, quickly made its way to national journalists, who noticed Franzoni’s story in The Alpena News.

In a flash of unexpected fame, Franzoni within days was interviewed by “Good Morning America”, and her story appeared in major outlets from NPR to People Magazine.

News of her tip set off a nationwide spree of generosity that marked a bright point in a sometimes dismal year. Days after the 2020 tip challenge hit newsstands, musician Donnie Wahlberg left a $2,020 tip of his own at a Chicago-area restaurant, citing Franzoni’s story as his inspiration.

Following his lead, car magnates, inspirational speakers, and household names from Harry Styles to Tom Selleck joined the challenge, leaving hefty bonuses for servers and egging on fellow celebrities to do the same.

Franzoni knows the power of receiving all that giving.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Savannah Franzoni rests her head on the shoulder of her mother, Danielle Franzoni, in their Alpena County home.

As she sat on the floor of her home earlier this month, the center of a boisterous and joyful flurry of three daughters and a dog named Maui, Franzoni marvelled at the changes $2,020 has wrought.

***

She moved to Alpena in 2013, having given her mother custody of her two daughters.

Savannah is now 14, and Neveah — “That’s heaven spelled backward,” the girl explained cheerfully — is 10.

Consumed by her addiction, Franzoni was a bad mom, she said — sailing in for a weekend visit, making a fool of herself, then disappearing again.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena waitress Danielle Franzoni reads a letter from Santa with her daughter, Neveah Franzoni. At Christmas 2019, Neveah told Santa she wished she could live with her mom again. In 2020, that wish came true, with the help of the 2020 Tip Challenge.

It took an overdose in 2016 to make her change direction.

“That’s when I pulled my head out of my butt,” Franzoni said.

The family, together now after years apart, lives in a trailer home on a rural Alpena County road. There’s a hole in the screen of the front door, and the siding is rusted.

Still, “this is a mansion — this is the Ritz — compared to what we come from,” Franzoni said.

She was just making the move to the trailer on the day she got the tip that changed everything.

She didn’t have the money for the deposit on the home, and she didn’t know where it was coming from, she remembered.

The unexpected $2,020 helped her secure the home she could prepare for the girls she was trying to get back.

Check out a video of Franzoni telling her story below. Viewing on mobile? Turn your device horizontally for the best viewing experience. Story continues below video.

Another chunk of the tip helped her get back her driver’s license, which she’d lost because of a drug charge.

She pinched pennies and used every dollar of the tip money to help clear barriers that kept her from being united with her daughters, Franzoni said.

Finally, in August, the girls came home.

***

Cheerful 9-month-old Amayah, born just when COVID-19 hit Michigan, is now the center of attention in the rollicking household full of bear hugs and giggles and teases. The baby belongs to all of them, Franzoni said — and “she never has to know addict mom. She never has to know any of that.”

Sometimes, Franzoni rewatches the clips of her new interviews when she had the nation’s attention. She laughs at how awkward she was at the time, but it’s still so fresh, so surreal, she said.

Some people, even friends, gave her a hard time for her 15 minutes of fame or expected her to give them money.

But the publicity brought other people into her life: brothers and sisters in recovery from across the country and from as far as New Zealand who saw her story and sent her hundreds of messages, encouraging her as she continues to keep her life on track.

One woman in her 80s from California sent a card holding $10 in $1 bills. It was all she could offer, the woman said, but she wanted Franzoni to have it as a tip.

Those dollar bills are now in a box, tucked away for baby Amayah, Franzoni said.

Over the summer, while also fighting to get her girls back, the waitress became a certified peer recovery coach. She connects online with people trying to break their addictions all over the country, including a woman in Philadelphia whom she recently helped get into a treatment center.

There’s not enough of anything out there in the world, Franzoni said, to make her go back to the addict’s life.

“This is getting high to me, today,” she said, wrapping her arms around her daughters.

***

Many who know about the tip challenge call Franzoni “2020.”

It’s been her year, she said.

The restaurant where she worked a year ago couldn’t keep its head above water when the pandemic hit, and it’s now closed. She’s laid off from the restaurant where she works now, and, some days, that gets her down.

But, she knows, there are good people in the world, people who will take a chance to help a total stranger who needs it.

She was delighted this week when a waitress in Petoskey reported a note on a receipt that read, “Tip challenge 2021. Happy New Year. Just be nice.”

It’s a gift that can change a life, she knows.

“It’s blessings upon blessings,” Franzoni said. “I’m living proof that, if you do the right thing, the right thing follows.”

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