‘Santa’ came early: Mystery donor pays off nearly $50,000 in items on layaway

Shoppers at a Pennsylvania Wal-Mart got a holiday surprise this past week, after a mysterious donor paid off nearly $50,000 in layaway items.

Someone known only as “Santa B” paid off the accounts of nearly 200 shoppers at the store in Everett, a town of about 1,700, according to news reports.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman told CNBC this is the third year in a row Santa B has paid off layaway accounts – which financially strapped shoppers can use to pay for goods incrementally – at one of the retail giant’s Pennsylvania stores.

This year’s donation of $46,265.59 was the person’s largest ever, the news outlet reported.

The secret Santa’s staff typically calls the store a few days in advance, then gets the final amount of money needed shortly before the check is delivered, Wal-Mart told CNBC.

Ryan Kennedy, the store manager, told CNN he didn’t expect the entire cost of the items to be paid when he got the call from “Santa B.” The check arrived Wednesday, and Kennedy called the 194 people with layaway accounts.

“It was complete disbelief,” Kennedy told CNN. “It was definitely a great gesture. I was completely shocked.”

Kennedy said he’d like to know what made the anonymous benefactor make the donations.

“I would just be curious as to what made them choose us, and let them know how grateful we are for the gesture, and how much it meant to the customers that we have been able to serve,” he told CNN.

The Wal-Mart layaway payoff wasn’t the only big gift from an anonymous Santa in western Pennsylvania this week. At an elementary school in Herminie, a mystery donor paid off students’ outstanding meal accounts.

Some information compiled by McClatchy News Network.

This story was originally published December 10, 2016 at 11:36 AM with the headline "‘Santa’ came early: Mystery donor pays off nearly $50,000 in items on layaway."