Posted on 12/16/2011 4:39:53 AM PST by BfloGuy
OMAHA, Neb. — The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.
He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.
"She told him, 'No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. "He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn't, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears."
At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents.
(Excerpt) Read more at northjersey.com ...
Seems almost alien in today’s society.
That is one of the nicest things I’ve ever heard of. What a wonderful thing to do.
Americans, and American conservatives, and some of the most generous and giving people on earth.
We do, however, or at least I know I do, sometimes get a bit cynical and "compassion fatigued" because of the great numbers of people who seem to be living off of the rest of us, including taking advantage of charity to provide Christmas gifts and food for their own families while they spend their own money on themselves.
People who put things on layaway are attempting to provide for their families themselves and not depending on someone else to do it for them.
There is something called the “deserving poor.” They need our unstinting help and grace.
Yesterday my daughter and I shopped for a couple with four daughters, ages 6 to 11, that we know. They told the girls they were sorry but there was just no money for much Christmas this year. What a blessing that shopping was, 4 dolls, 4 little girl watches with sparkles on them, 4 little girl umbrellas with animals on them, little shirts for school, 1 ez bake oven and 1 kareoke box. The mother cried when we called her. We put the stuff in her trunk for her to wrap.
How cool is that? What a great idea. I remember when the only way I could buy a coat in cold NY state was by layaway. That was back in the ‘60s. Sometimes you just forget...
:-)
This is a great story and what I like about it too is they are helping people who are working to help themselves.
It really isn't that alien. I know a fair number of people in my church who do this on a small scale all the time. Paying for things for poor families; putting together Christmas boxes. When I was a kid, I remember a woman paying for a toy for me at Woolworths because I was a couple dollars short. I've done similar things -- when I work with the homeless, I routinely pay fees for them to get ID or birth certificates or their transportation.
Old American values are still out there, which include an incredible amount of charity toward our neighbors, friends and families.
Wecan’t do anything this year either, but next year we will.
Note to liberals: this is the way Jesus intended for us to care for the poor.It’s personal. It stretches and blesses the goier and the receiver in ways the government can never match. Think about it.
My sister, God bless her, lives in Virginia. A few years ago, she heard about an organization (which started out small) and has grown rapidly for Santa’s Pets.
Every year, people in her community donate various pet supplies, toys, food, and $. My sister and niece help make up Santa Pet bags and early Christmas morning (or late Christmas Eve) travel around and place 100’s of packages on the porches for families who have pets.
Yes. My wife worked with a woman who went around to the local malls hanging her kid's name on those 'buy me a gift' trees.
Bless you. That is genuine Christmas spirit.
Great nearly free publicity for K-mart. And now there will customers who show up hoping someone else will pay for their TV. But apparently there is no similar largess at Wal-mart.
ML/NJ
I certainly wouldn’t pretend that my actions are as nice as this, but I anonymously pick up bar tabs during the holidays. Seriously.
Much to our surprise, they donated them to the toy drive. $450 in gift cards given back to buy toys.
Good people are still out there, in abundance!
You're right, of course, and this wasn't meant to detract from the many acts of goodwill that go on all the time. I just wanted to highlight a nice story.
I bet Obama wishes he'd thought of it. But The Layaway Forgiveness Stimulus Bill just wouldn't have the same feeling -- or results.
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