Workers at a Walmart in Derby, Vermont were stunned last week when an anonymous man walked into the store and offered to pay for every outstanding layaway item.

Customer Julie Ann Gates was shopping at the store with her son when she heard the Good Samaritan, who introduced himself as Kris Kringle, make this offer.

“Listen, I can either have you put it on a layaway, and I’m going to pay for it when you leave,” she said the man told her. “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. 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.”

When she asked the man how anyone could afford to do that, he responded, “Santa Claus can.”

“I know personally he is my Santa Claus,” Julie Ann said. “He is my Kris Kringle. I’ll forever have his face embedded in my mind. He’s given so many people the opportunity not worrying about Christmas, to just be with their families and not stress that maybe they can’t afford it.”

A spokesman for Walmart released a statement afterwards saying, “when customers quietly pay off others’ layaway items, we’re reminded how good people can be. We’re honored to be a small part of these random acts of kindness.”

We applaud this man’s generosity and doing something truly kind for others! This wonderful display of humanity should inspire all of us to extend charity to those who need it most during this holiday season.