Cruise donates $5,000 to injured girl's charity

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Dec 25, 2004

He didn't have a red suit, flying reindeer or a big belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly, but Tom Cruise did manage to fill in for Santa Claus last week, reports MSN.com.

When the A-list actor stopped into a Lexington, Va., Dairy Queen on Dec. 15, he decided to make a difference in the life of a young girl by coughing up some extra cash he had in his pocket.

Cruise dropped $5,000 into a donation box set up to help 11-year- old Ashley Flint, who almost died in a September go-cart accident. She has undergone surgery three times to repair the extensive damage caused by the crash, and her family has been struggling to pay mounting medical expenses.

The actor, who was in town to film scenes for Steven Spielberg's big-budget sci-fi flick "War of the Worlds," ponied up 50 $100 bills, or, in other words, all his loose change.

"He didn't know this girl at all," an employee told Access Hollywood.