Secret Santa has struck again, this time at a Walmart in Vermont near the Canadian border. A total stranger has paid off the layaways at the Walmart in Derby, not for one or two families, but for every single account that was being stored for pickup closer to Christmas, WCAX reported.
The good fortune came as a surprise for those who were at the store over the weekend to pay a portion of their presents or put them on hold, paying a bit at a time.
Julie Gates said she was at the store last week when a man came up and asked if she was putting items on layaway.
"He said why don't you run and get what you want now and come back here. So I came back and he was standing there waiting. There was no one left," Gates told WCAX.
The unidentified man paid the bill.
Gates said she asked who can pay everyone’s layaway. She said he told her “Santa Claus can.”
Gates had overheard the man tell another shopper who was putting items on layaway, "Either I am going to pay for it now or I'm going to pay for it later," WCAX reported.
Another woman, who also benefited from the goodwill, had a word for what had happened.
"It was kind of like surreal when they said no balance due, then it was really a reality," Tammy Desautels told WCAX.
Walmart didn't say how much the total of all the layaways was, but Gates said there were some that totaled $800 or $900, WCAX reported.
“Really have a feeling that there’s hope for mankind or whatever. There’s still good people out there,” Desautels said.
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