Walmart storefront.Photo: Gene J Puskar/AP/Shutterstock
Santa Clausvisited Tennessee several weeks early this year!
An anonymous shopper came into a Walmart in the city of Bristol on Monday and donated $64,995.51 to pay the balance of items placed on the store’s layaway, a spokesperson for Walmart confirms to PEOPLE.
Shopper Lloyd Leonard told CBS/ABC affiliateWJHLthat he initially thought it was “weird” that he got a notificationthat his items had been paid off, but a manager soon let him know about the magic behind it.
“She said, ‘Yeah somebody came in this morning at 6 o’clock and paid everybody’s layaway,'” Leonard recalled of the manager’s message. “‘But he wants me to tell you that he loves you, God bless you and MerryChristmas.'”
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Walmart storefront.Justin Sullivan/Getty
Another shopper, April Hilliard, got the same message from management, and told WJHL of her reaction, “The emotional type that I am, I just broke. I just started crying.”
“That restores my faith,” she continued. “It’s like a Christmas miracle. He’s Santa, that’s what he is. He’s a Santa to everyone here.”
Store Manager Kris Light tells PEOPLE in a statement, “It’s especially touching whencustomers pay off others’ layaways during the holiday seasonand serves as another example of the generosity our customers show year-round.”
“We’re honored to play a small role in these acts of kindness and we love seeing the joy it brings to our customers this time of year,” Light adds, while a rep for Walmart tells PEOPLE that the donor’s primary motive “was to positively affect as many people as possible.”
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“We see it quite frequently around the holiday season,” Staheli said at the time. “There’s a lot of kind and really generous people who make a difference.”
source: people.com
