“Layaway angel” paid off $20,000 in toys

Published 2:45 pm Friday, December 12, 2014

A woman in Bellingham, Mass. is being called a “layaway angel” after spending $20,000 on Wednesday to pay off all the layaways at a Toys R Us. 

The anonymous local woman hugged the store manager and said, “If you have it, give it,” according to the Millford Daily News

The money paid off more than 150 layaway accounts for people who were notified by store employees over the phone that their holiday just got a little brighter. 

Many stores offer layaway plans so that those shopping on a budget can pay for purchases over time before taking them home, and it’s not unheard of for benefactors to pay off the accounts of others. In 2013 an Ohio man spent $25,000 paying off gifts at a Wal-Mart, where WHIO.com reports the same thing also happened in 2012. Earlier this week, according to WCVB.com, a couple spent $1,200 on other people’s layaway bills, also at Toys R Us, in Woburn, Massachusetts. There are even non-profit organizations entirely dedicated to paying down Christmas layaway bills. 

As for the anonymous “angel” in Massachusetts, store employees told the Millford Daily News that she said she’ll “sleep better at night” knowing the gifts are paid for.