Barbara Schmitt
ABCNews
December, 17, 2013
ARIZONA–The spirit of giving is in full swing this season as the act of paying off layaway plans for strangers has gone from novelty to trend.
The most recent display of generosity was in the Dallas suburb of Granbury, Texas, when a secret Santa walked into the local Walmart and paid off the store’s entire list of layaway accounts.
“It’s awesome,” Craig Rowland, the store’s manager, told ABCNews.com today. “It’s very touching to our associates and to the people in the community.”
The anonymous benefactor paid a total of $2,000 towards 21 separate accounts on Sunday night, Rowland said. “It paid off every single one of our customers’ layaways.”
Store layaway programs are popular during the holidays when customers are allowed to reserve merchandise and pay it off over time. For millions of low-income Americans with little or no credit, it’s the only way to purchase goods during the holidays.
The good deed created a buzz inside the store, Rowland said. “As soon as she paid the layaways off, our associates back in layaway were able to call the customers and let them know, ‘Hey, your layaway has been paid for by a Good Samaritan, a secret Santa. That was pretty rewarding for them to be able to do that,” he said.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” Brittany Browning told local ABC affiliate WFAA. The single mother said her account of about $125 was paid for by the generous stranger. “And then thought it was just amazing that someone would do that.”
Brittany Browning was one of the beneficiaries of a secret Santa at a Walmart in Granbury, Texas. (WFAA/ABC News)