My dad just told me this story. He's a minister and recently officiated at the funeral of an elderly woman. Since she was a member of his church he refused the money which was offered to him for performing the funeral, as is his custom. When the family heard about this, they sent him a gift certificate instead... for $200!
And this is the part I think is so great... They wanted to make sure he would actually spend it, so they asked around and did some research (I think they're all out of area) and got a GC to the little home-run (i.e., not a chain) hobby shop that my mom loves! And put
her name as well on the GC! It would have been the perfect gift for a good friend or relative to get my mom/parents, let alone total strangers (and for way more money than we usually spend on gifts for good friends and relatives). My parents and I all thought it was a really nice gesture.
