Behind on your holiday shopping? Looking to do a good deed during the season of giving? There’s a new trend going around where anonymous people are going to major retailers and paying off the layaway payments of others.
People in Bellingham, Brockton and as far as Harrisburg, Penn. have reported instances in which these unnamed donors went into stores like Toys “R” Us, Kmart and Wal-Mart and paid upwards of $50,000 in fees.
The $50,000 bill was paid off by someone who’s come to be known as “Santa B” in Harrisburg on December 15 and, if you can believe it, that’s not the highest payment that’s been recorded. According to PennLive, a Wal-Mart spokesperson contends he’s seen donations of $51,000 and $59,000 in Florida.
In Brockton, the Boston Globe reports, a man dropped $3,000 in cash on behalf of about 20 customers. In Bellingham, that number jumped to $20,000 for which a woman paid off every outstanding account in the store on December 15, according to NECN.
Holiday cheer of this sort has become especially popular in Boston where people are’t going around paying others’ bills, but rather donating items of great sentimental, as well as monetary, value. Boston.com reports that a woman donated her wedding ring valued at $1,850, and her wedding band to the Salvation Army. Another woman paid $21,000 in exchange for them, only to return them to the original owner, who received them on Monday.
It’s great seeing people act this way during the season of giving and though there’s only one full day left before Christmas, your generosity doesn’t have to end there. Kudos to those mysterious people paying off others’ fees. Let’s try and ride that momentum into next year and beyond, Boston. Happy holidays.
