Boston Woman Gives Out $5000 to Lucky Passersby

CHICAGO--The cheerful Bostonian who flabbergasted local folks by handing out free money--$100 bills, $50s and $20s--shrugs off the uproar she created.

"I'm just me. It's like I had this extra money, so I just started giving it out," said Judy Kelly, 53, who describes herself as the daughter of "an industrial tycoon" and a Chicago native.

"It was fun," she said.

It was fun for recipients of her largesse, too, though lounge patrons were taken aback when she distributed the bills during the weekend near Midway Airport.

"People keep asking why," Kelly said "It just happened...It's not like I was blowing the rent money."

She said she was thrilled by the "smiles that came back...It was great; it was great."

By some estimates, she gave away $5,000 before police asked her to stop. Her generosity was causing traffic jams as would-be recipients stampeded to the scene.

"I promised the police I would stop giving money away," she said, but "I can still do things quietly.

"I think people should maybe read the dictionary and look up the word 'give.'"

Until she had reporters called to the news conference, Ms. Kelly had eluded the spotlight since Sunday. And she did not return telephone calls Wednesday.

What prompted Tuesday's resurfacing?

Hotel manager Lola Andreas at the Holiday Inn-Midway, where Kelly is staying, asked for a contribution to the charity children's Christmas party the hotel sponsors for the state Department of Children and Family Services.