Yahoo News Anonymous 'Santa Claus' Surprises Customers by Paying Off All Layaway Items at Vermont Walmart
Santa Claus really does exist — in Vermont!
With a little over a month left until Christmas, a mystery man spread Holiday cheer when he walked into a Walmart and paid for every single layaway item in the Derby store.
“I just can’t put into words how much that man has done for so many people,” Julie Ann Gates told ABC News after finding out that she was among the many customers to have their items paid for.
Gates went on to tell the outlet that she was in the layaway line at Walmart on Nov. 15 when she heard a man asking another man to pay for his things.
“Listen I can either have you put it on a layaway, and I’m going to pay for it when you leave. You’ll just have to come right back and pick it up or you could follow me over to the cash register, and I pay for it now,” Gates recalled hearing, ABC News reported.
She then said the man approached her. “The guy turned to me and said, ‘Are you going to put anything on layaway?’ ” Gates recalled to the outlet.
“Well why don’t you run and get what you were going to get and come back, and I pay for it. I have a few minutes before I go to the doctor,” the man said, according to Gates.
Realizing it wasn’t a joke or a prank, Gates told the outlet that the mystery man was still waiting for her when she returned with her items and as he promised, he paid for everything.
“I said oh my goodness! Thank you!” Gates said she told the man before asking him “How could anyone afford to do this?”
He then replied, “Santa Claus can.”
When Gates asked for his name, the man told her name was “Kris Kringle” and then walked away.
“I’ll forever have his face embedded in my mind,” Gates told ABC News. “He’s given so many people the opportunity not worry about Christmas, to just be with their families and not stress that maybe they can’t afford it.”
Tammy Desautels was another customer whose layaway was paid off.
“It was kind of surreal when they said no balance due, then it was really a reality,” Desautels told WCAX 3.
The gift was especially touching for Desautels considering her husband recently broke his foot and things for their family have been tight financially, WXAC 3 reported.
“[I] really have a feeling that there is hope for mankind or whatever. There are still good people out there,” Desautels told the local news station.
At this time, it is not clear how much the man spent and his identity still remains unknown.
