Anonymous donation covers layaway accounts again

For second year, man gives $25,000 to pay for toys and other items.

A man who anonymously donated $25,000 to pay off layaway accounts at the Walmart here for the second year in a row is creating a ripple effect of giving in the community this holiday season.

“It wasn’t our money to begin with, so why not pay it forward?” Kim Summers of Bellefontaine asked.

Summers had an iPod and a Barbie Horse Stable on layaway and had paid $100 of her $272 bill. Then she got a call from Walmart earlier this month saying her account balance was zero and she could pick up her items.

“It brings back the spirit of Christmas and makes people believe again,” she said. “We have given food to our local pantry, and I have friend in need that I have helped her out, too.”

Stefanie Evans of DeGraff and her family of eight children were another recipient of the donation. Evans was grocery shopping after she had just paid $20 of the $200 left on an account that started at just under $700 when she got called to customer service over the intercom.

She thought, “Oh Lord, what is it now?”

When the desk told her that her account balance had gone to zero, she instantly thought there was a mistake.

“I can’t even put it into words how thankful I was. Eight kids come with eight long Christmas lists,” Evans said. “It is a relief to be done with Christmas this soon because usually we go right up to the day.”

The family had not done layaway for a few years and tries to not rely on it, but she said her and her husband are both self-employed and this had been a down year.

“It doesn’t sound like much, but for our family it was a lot,” she said.

She said she knew quite a few other people that were affected, including some single mothers who needed the help more than her family.

Walmart's store manager, Jennifer Schumacher, said she's never seen the man. She believes there is a good chance that the man who made this year's donation is the same one who donated $25,000 last year.

“The best part is people take that big gift and make smaller gifts and it continues to go,” Logan County Commissioner Dustin Wickersham said.

And that is exactly what happened, Schumacher said: “Some of those customers, instead of just picking up their layaway, they actually paid on other people’s layaways.”

“I have to give it to our faith in this area that people believe that is what they are called to do, to help others,” Wickersham said. “I think it’s ingrained in human nature no matter where you are, but being in a small community, the ripple effect is felt so much faster.”

He recalls multiple times when he was at the drive-through at Wendy’s and someone had paid for his meal.

Evans said she loved to do that with her children to teach them the value of giving to others.

She sometimes buys a $5 or $10 gift card in line at Walmart and has one of her children give it to the person behind them in line.

“I like to think it could have been karma. We are good people. We did something right in our life to get this extreme gift,” Evans said.

The man who donated the money asked for it to go toward accounts that were actively being paid and accounts with toys on them first.

“He wanted to help the moms and dads that are trying to buy gifts for their kids,” Wickersham said. “I can appreciate someone saying ‘I wanna give, but I want to give a hand up not a hand out.’ ”

Urbana’s Walmart reports it has a woman who has come in the last two years to pay off layaway accounts. She is on a smaller budget, but paid off two accounts this year and wanted to make sure the items were for children.

She and the man who donated the $25,000 want to stay anonymous, but the recipients say they would love to thank them.

“This is a wonderful gift, and there is no word that expresses it for families like mine and others out there that we needed it,” Evans said.

About the Author