Anonymous donor pays for layaway items

Thousands of dollars' worth of toys and other items are now paid in full, thanks to one very generous person who had only one condition.

"I'm going to be really careful what I do say," Jim Taylor of the Salvation Army said. "He doesn't want to be identified in any way, fashion, or form, so, I don't even know who it is, to tell you the truth."

Taylor offered just one clue, narrowing the Secret Santa to 49.2 percent of the population, according to the latest U.S. Census data. We now know that the anonymous donor is male.
 
"He wanted to do something really special for the people in the Tulsa community," Taylor said.

That something special was to pay off layaways for as many people as possible before Christmas.

The donor released this statement through the Salvation Army:
 
"This gift to others is really my Christmas present to myself. I wanted to help people who work hard to provide Christmas for their family. Those who start layaways months before Christmas are doing so because they want to be able to give to others, their families and friends at Christmas, even if they have to pay it off slowly and work hard to make it happen. I added the $100 gift card to each layaway so that maybe seeing that all their gifts for others were taken care of they would get something for themselves. I want everyone to have a merry Christmas and this was my way of helping. I hope that others will do the same."

The donor contacted the Salvation Army, and the organization then contacted Walmart on Memorial near Admiral. The store contacted 123 customers with delinquent layaways that had to be paid Wednesday.

The total amount that the Secret Santa gave is also a mystery.  But he also gave each of the recipients a $100 gift card and made a generous donation to the Salvation Army to help cover the purchase of Angel Tree gifts.