Gas prices continue to hover around record highs. Bankrate says prices have soared 97% since last year with the national average right around $4.25 per gallon. Here in Minnesota the average price is a little below $4 a gallon. Unfortunately, experts say those prices could continue to clime with the spring and summer travel season right around the corner.

People are feeling the pain and are being forced to make sacrifices so one businessman decided to provide a little relief. He performed an amazing random act of kindness by spending $200,000 filling people’s tanks. Read how it happened below.

Good Samaritan Spends $200,000 Buying People’s Gas

Willie Wilson is a successful businessman with a big heart. He saw record high gas prices and knew of people struggling to fill-up so he decided to use some of his money to help out.

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Wilson bought $50 gift cards from eight gas stations and asked employees to hand them out to customers until they were gone. Wilson explained his actions to the Chicago Tribune, "We did this thinking of just one thing, people needed help."

Word Got Out Fast.

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Residents in the Chicago area found out about the businessman’s generous act before the gas giveaway even started so lines began to form - long lines. Some waited for nearly 6-hours. To no one's surprise, the gas went quick, but the businessman isn't done helping out.

He's Going To Do It Again!

Wilson said he wants to help even more people next time. He said he'll spend even more on his next gas giveaway which is scheduled for March 31st.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

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