DENVER - What started a week ago with a single act of kindness has grown into a giving spree. People across the country and here in Colorado are anonymously paying off layaways at local Kmart and Walmart stores, making a big difference in the lives of complete strangers this holiday.
9NEWS Your Money Reporter Heidi McGuire stopped by the layaway department at Kmart on Broadway and Bellview Avenue on Tuesday following several newstips that more and more people were paying off layaways. Heidi found a local woman in line when she got there who had read about the layaway angels in the paper and decided to help out.
Maryrose Kaplan wasn't looking for any recognition, she just wanted to make a family's holiday a little brighter.
"Since it's such a struggle for some families to provide gifts for their children, and it's such an important time of the year, since I was able to give a little bit, I thought that would be a nice thing to do for someone," Kaplan said.
Neither Kaplan nor the hundreds of other layaway angels this season will find out who they're giving to.
Kmart employees don't even know at first, since the layaway system is based on numbers. For example, when someone asks to pay-off a layaway, an employee will select from a numbered box, preferably one with children's clothes and toys, and the angel's can pay off the account down to one penny.
Once a layaway is paid, the customer is then notified by phone, and can come in and close their account, and pay off the penny balance.
"My heart starts racing, you know, and I get the chills, and I'll start crying," one Kmart employee said about making the phone calls.
More than 20 layaways were paid off at the Kmart on Broadway.
"It's really heart-warming. It's nice to see people still care, and I know with my with team it's uplifted us and it put us in the Christmas spirit," store manager Jasmine Domgard said.
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