I Believe in Angels

It started in December when one kindhearted woman went into a Michigan K-Mart store and secretly paid the layaway balance for an unsuspecting parent.

News of the generous gesture spread far and wide and dozens of "Layaway Angels" followed suit, copying the noble act.

Far exceeding numbers in the hundreds, these Angels reached out and touched hearts across the nation. Every day the number of layaway rescues surpassed that of the day before.

Countless stores were "hit" with Angel acts of kindness including one store outside Philadelphia whose angels visited and paid off $3000 worth of layaways one Sunday afternoon alone.

News reports also noted that angel activity had occurred in other Pennsylvania towns and across the border into New Jersey.

Angels were reported to be performing their noble acts in Illinois, Nebraska, and Montana.

They were been spotted in Massachusetts, New York and other Eastern seaboard states and spread their wings into the warmth of the southern states.

They continued to practice these random acts of kindness and according to Kmart more than 400 Angels paid off layaways for complete strangers.

According to the Miami Herald (Florida), anonymous Angels paid a $400 layaway at a Hialeah Kmart and a man purchased $2,500 worth of $100 gift cards for customers in Ocala.

Winter Garden Kmart reported donations had reached $5000 and Orange County Kmart reported that they experienced donations as high as $15,000.

Angels showed up almost daily.

They do it anonymously and it has caught on faster than fire.

Angels have been quoted as saying " I feel good about doing something good for someone else" and "I just want to help".

According to the San Jose Mercury News: "The benefactors generally ask to help families who are squirreling away items for young children. They often pay a portion of the balance, usually all but a few dollars or cents so the layaway order stays in the store's system."

Kmart's division vice president for layaway, Salima Yala said: "It is honestly being driven by people wanting to do a good deed at this time of the year."

Most of the time the Angels use cash so they cannot be traced.

"Talk about restoring faith in humanity," says Kmart shopper Amy Hickey. "It's sort of a cliché, but it does really warm your heart and make you think that there are still good people in the world."

This little Angel will benefit from the flurry of Layaway Angels landing in her town.

Photo Credit-KOTV

When Kmart store managers were asked for their opinion as to why so many Angels had arrived in 2011, they seem to have no viable answer.

Most have say that similar acts of kindness have randomly occurred in past years but the number of Angels coming forward in 2011 is astonishing.

What is most fascinating and endearing about it all is that not a single Angel wanted recognition. They went into the stores specifically looking for accounts with children's items. They landed, performed their good deeds, and disappeared from sight.

Has Santa met his match?

Christmas isn't a reward for people who have perfectly decorated homes, beautiful and delicious home-baked cookies, and who have picked out just the right presents for everybody in a timely fashion. In other words, people who have it all and have it all together. It's light for people in dark places.

Christmas is about someone who came precisely for the people who don't have it all together. For all of us who limp through the season, confronted by our weaknesses and lacks all around; who sense the darkness of grief or pain or fear will overtake any ray of light; who struggle to make one end meet the other every day; who are imprisoned either by others' evil, or their own; for whole countries entrapped in the sharp jaws of poverty and violence--for all these and so many more, the Prince of Peace offers hope, healing, freedom and sustenance.

For all of us who enjoy comforts and material gifts beyond imagination; for all of us who feel the whisper in our minds every now and then that's there's got to be more than all this; for all of us who experience a poverty of spirit in the midst of an abundance of blessings, Emmanuel (God with us), touches our hearts with meaning and gratitude.

~Jani Darak-Druck~ via -©2011 Sam L. Greening, Jr.

Used with Permission

Happy New Year and congratulations to every Layaway Angel. You managed to land in all 50 states, making Christmas 2011 better and brighter for so many.

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Texas
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming