NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man's wish that his family give a server a $500 tip has grown into something much bigger than just one server and $500.

Aaron Collins died on July 7, just three weeks after turning 30. He wrote out in his will that he wanted three things done after he died: repay his debt to his parents using his bank account, help a homeless person, and leave "an awesome tip (and I don't mean 25%. I mean $500 on a [expletive] pizza) for a waiter or waitress."

A few days after Aaron's death, his family fulfilled the last of his three wishes. They posted a video of it on YouTube, and created a website sharing Aaron's story. The video went viral, and donations began coming into the family. According to the website, since July, nearly $63,000 has been raised — enough to give 125 servers a $500 tip.

Seth Collins, Aaron's brother, continues to give these huge tips. As of February, he had given more than 30 $500 tips.

"Some of (the videos) are really emotional, a lot of them are entertaining or fun, but the one key thing is that these people's lives are being touched through generosity," Seth said.

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Man's dying wish fulfilled with generous twist

A man's dying wish — for his family to visit a restaurant and leave a $500 tip — became bigger than he could have imagined when strangers touched by the story began donating to the cause.

Though Seth manages to travel around the area, he is currently fundraising* to travel the country, sharing his brother's wish with servers in all 50 states.

"My goal would be to leave on Aaron's birthday, June 15, and give two tips a week (and share them with all of you on the same day!) for a year," Seth wrote of the project.

Earlier this week, Seth and his friend Jessica Richards stopped at the pizza place of his childhood, Giovanni's Pizza Den, in Ivel, Kent., and gave their waitress Jessica a tip.

"Are you serious?" she asked as she picked up and fanned out the cash. "All this is mine? All these $20 bills? ...Are you serious? This is a joke. You promise? Can I hug you?"

The stop was one of 13 on Seth's road trip around the south.

On the 12th stop in his road trip, Seth stopped in Nashville to eat at MafioZa's. There, Chris Boeskool, a father of three who works as a server a couple nights a week, was Seth's server.

"The other night, at a particularly busy time of the evening, a guy at one of my tables stood up and started talking to me about how his brother had died about three months ago," Chris wrote on his blog, "The Boeskool". "He explained that one of his (brother's) last wishes was for him to give a server a really good tip."

"A moment later, he handed me $500. Now, I know that for a lot of people in this country, $500 is not that much money, but for anyone who has a job as a server, let me tell you: This is a really big deal."

Chris immediately gave back — the beauty of Aaron's Wish.

At another table he had been serving, a party of 12 split the check individually. One man's card was declined, so Chris picked up the tab, "courtesy of Aaron's Wish."

Later that night, a co-worker sat in Chris' area. He paid her check, saying the manager had comped it.

On a dinner date at the Waffle House with his kids the next night, he gave the waiter "a tip that he probably won't soon forget."

Whether or not he can raise enough money to take the trip, Seth — and Aaron — is making a difference in the lives of people like Chris.

"(W)itnessing an act of generosity and unselfishness — like a young man's dying wish to make a stranger's night, or a brother's dedication to honoring the memory of a brother he loved— THAT kind of stuff is what really inspires people. And it changes them," Chris wrote.

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