GolfHos

ASHLAND, Ohio (CNN)  -- An Ohio bakery shut down in October is bustling again, with 60 eager employees who had expected a Christmas on the unemployment rolls.

Some 300 workers lost their jobs when the Archway cookie factory in Ashland, Ohio, was suddenly closed by the private equity firm that owned it. The workers also were left without benefits like health insurance.

But then Lance Inc., a Charlotte, North Carolina-based snack food company, purchased Archway at a bankruptcy auction. And last week 60 workers were asked to return immediately, with perhaps more coming back in the months ahead.

Deluged by the kindness of strangers Tuesday, the victims of a fierce fire that destroyed a Burnsville apartment complex Monday will experience an equally blessed Christmas Eve today.

A check for more than $17,500 will be given to each displaced family -- many of them poor before losing everything in the Burncliff Apartments fire -- thanks to a $1 million anonymous gift announced Tuesday night. They'll also get their December rent and security deposits refunded and split $100,000 more in donations.

For more than 60 households left homeless by the fire, the news of such generosity came on the heels of a day of kindness after kindness, and left many in grateful tears.

"I'm blown away," said Jackie Heller, one of the residents of the 64-unit Building A, which was destroyed. "Whoever it is, God bless you. I can't believe it. In 24 hours, I've gone from having absolutely nothing to having clothes, and now I'm going to have money to get an apartment and start over again."

Earlier Tuesday, Heller and other displaced residents gathered at a Burnsville High School shelter run by the Red Cross, where their shock and grief just two days before Christmas met the balm of a community outpouring of good will and help -- food, clothing, toys, medicine, counseling and more.

Among those who reached out to help them were students who dug into their own pockets and headed their own community drive, collecting more than $5,000 in cash, as well as clothing, toys and food.

As the school band played Christmas music, students wrapped hundreds of gifts. Businesses big and small gave, as did individuals, including those who brought in presents from under their own Christmas trees.