Heartwarming Stories about Secret Santas

[tcmgpt13]

Anonymous 2010 Christmas Gift Stories:

Secret Santa Drops Thousands in Salvation Army Kettle

December 08, 2010 12:15 PM
Kevin Sims
Somewhere out there, a secret Santa just saved Christmas for a lot of Tennessee Valley families. And they did it with the biggest gift ever to a Salvation Army red kettle in our area.

Most of us are familiar with the ringing bells outside of stores this time of year. And many of us even drop in our spare coins. But Tuesday night, somebody threw down a few bills instead. "I just kept screaming and digging in and looking for more," says Salvation Army donations coordinator Jennifer Fisher. Every morning, Fisher helps count the kettles from the day before. But nothing prepared her for the seemingly never-ending stack of Benjamin's. Co-workers even grabbed their cameras and caught the moment. In the end, 55 fresh $100 bills. That's $5,500! "I was just sorting through and kept finding different little piles of hundreds!" laughs Fisher.

Salvation Army spokesperson Kimberly George says the money came from a kettle at the K-Mart in Fort Oglethorpe. "We get excited over 20's and 50's," George says, "so you can imagine the excitement." That K-Mart is the same store where another huge donation was found last Christmas. While they know the donor is a man, they don't know much else. "We just want to say a big 'thank you,' says George. "We hope that this secret santa is out there watching because it brings us such joy and certainly will bring joy to those folks that we're helping.

That money will certainly go a long way. Client need is up 30% this season. And recent cold weather means more people are spending the night. They are people that secret santa will likely never know. "I think they're just wanting to help and they don't need the credit," says Fisher. "They just want to make Christmas a better time for other people this year."

And while finds like this are fun, Fisher knows it doesn't take $5,500 to make change. "Any amount will make a difference this season," she says.

Secret Santa Drops Thousands in Salvation Army Kettle | santa, secret, tennessee - Local News - WTVC NewsChannel 9: Chattanooga News, Weather, Radar, Sports, Lottery

Anonymous Donor Gives $40K To Local Food Bank

December 16, 2010 10:12 PM
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food bank, receives, 40,000, check anonymous donor

(credit: CBS)
Lindsey Seavert

Reporting Lindsey Seavert

NEW HOPE, Minn. (WCCO) — Christmas came early for a Twin Cities food bank struggling to keep up with the growing number of hungry families this holiday season.

The Emergency Foodshelf Network in New Hope stocks and serves more than 230 food pantries in Minnesota.

“We are running leaner than we have probably run in years,” said Executive Director Lori Kratchmer, who says this year donations are down at least 20 percent. “Across all suburbs around the metro area so, it’s really broad, the need, and it continues to be greater and greater.”

But Wednesday, a Christmas miracle arrived in a plain white envelope. Up front, administrative assistant Carol Deters opens up the mail. She just had a hunch.

“I said, I just love these mysterious envelopes because you never know what little goody you are going to find on the inside. And we opened it up and it was a check for $40,000,” Deters said.

Deters says $40,000 can purchase 37,600 meals.

“I was just so excited and we were running around and yelling, needed it,” she said.

There was no note, and when the staff tried to call the person whose name was on the check, the number was unlisted. The donor wanted to remain anonymous.

“I think I’d be lying if I said we weren’t jumping up and high fiving after receiving such a generous gift like that,” said Kratchmer. “So we put our faith in the community and they really come through for us.”

A new report out this week shows many Minnesotans are still struggling this holiday season.

Hunger Solutions Minnesota says currently the number of people visiting emergency food shelves is up 62 percent since the economy crashed in 2008.

That’s 1-in-5 families going hungry over the holidays and all year long. In September of 2010, Minnesota had 454,513 people enrolled in food support programs, which is a 66-percent increase since September of 2008.

The Emergency Foodshelf Network staff says like many food banks and food pantries all across Minnesota, they still need donations.

They can buy more food with cash donations, but also accept donations from food drives. Visit their website for more information.

Anonymous Donor Gives $40K To Local Food Bank « CBS Minnesota – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and the Best of Minnesota

The co-ordinators of this gift giving are not anonymous but the people who donate the money towards this are:

December 17, 2010 |
Valley & State

Secret Santas spread holiday cheer, cash

12 comments by Glen Creno - Dec. 17, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Angelina Sage headed for a Goodwill store in the West Valley on Thursday with $8 and change in her pocket, expecting to scour the dollar racks for clothes for her two young daughters.

That was before the Secret Santa brigade fanned out in the store, handing out $100 bills to stunned shoppers. Sage, of Glendale, was overwhelmed by the windfall, and not sure it was real.

slideshow Secret Santas hand out cash to strangers

The windfall allowed her to expand her shopping horizons to include some toys for the children, ages 6 and 3.

"I can get whatever I want for my girls," she said, smiling.

This is the fifth year that retired FBI agents Steve Chenoweth and Larry McCormick have helped organize and operate the Secret Santa effort in the Valley. They call themselves "elves." The people who supply the money are strictly anonymous. No names, no pictures. It's in keeping with the tradition of the original Secret Santa, a Midwestern man who handled out about $1.3 million in his years of surprise donations.

The Valley Santas estimate that about $40,000 was handed out in last year's campaign. They figure it will be a little less this year by the time they're done hopscotching from dollar stores to bus stops to police stations and schools. The two-day effort winds up today.

The elves have the ultimate fun job. They drive around the city in a big van with a police escort; they like to make unexpected stops to surprise people waiting for buses, so they need traffic control.

The caravan's first stop Thursday was a police station in north Phoenix, where Officer Karen Freund accepted several hundred dollars in a surprise setup by her colleagues at the Cactus Park Precinct. Her husband, Harold Bullis, also a Phoenix police officer, was in San Diego. He has three sons. One recently lost two legs and an arm serving in Afghanistan and is recuperating in California. The money will help with family expenses.

Jessica Ramirez of Phoenix was sitting in a Greyhound Bus Lines station on Glendale Avenue, waiting for a midmorning bus to Tucson. She's moving there one bus trip at a time. Her truck's tires are shot and she can't afford new ones and wants to be close to her grandmother, who is fighting cancer. The $200 will help.

"There is a God," she said, between tears.

A Santa walked up to Dan Bloom of Phoenix as Bloom sat in his wheelchair under an umbrella on a street corner in the northwest Valley. He was holding an advertising sign for a cellphone company.

"This is awesome," he said. "It's totally unexpected. I'm just here doing my job."

The caravan rolled on, stopping at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center and Wilson Primary School.

An assembly of third-graders at the school received coloring books and heard the story of Larry Stewart, the original Secret Santa. Stewart gave away about $1.3 million in more than a quarter-century of giving. He died in 2007 at the age of 58 of complications of esophageal cancer.

His tradition lives on via the Society of Secret Santas, the anonymous people who donate the money. The group said Santas will hit about six metro areas this year. They don't name the cities in advance so the visits will be a surprise.

Children at the school sang "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" for the Santa crew. Afterward, Chenoweth, the former FBI agent, said he loved making the rounds every year.

"Once you do it, you're hooked," he said.

Read more: Secret Santas spread holiday cheer, cash

[tcmgpt13]

More stories of anonymous Secret Santas, truly God's Angels in Disguise:

Missouri Secret Santa hands Out Mad Cash, Spreading Joy, Disbelief
December 15th, 2010 (1) Posted By Pat Dollard.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Secret Santa II hit the streets Tuesday in a long-standing Kansas City tradition of handing out $100 bills — sometimes several at a time — to unsuspecting strangers in thrift stores, food pantries and shelters.

Some people gasped in surprise. Some wanted to know if the $100 bill the tall man in the red cap offered was fake. Others wept.

Secret Santa II has seen a lot of reactions since taking over where his mentor, Kansas City’s original Secret Santa, Larry Stewart, left off when he died in 2007 at age 58. Like Stewart, who gave away more than $1 million to strangers each December in mostly $100 bills, this Secret Santa prefers to stay anonymous.

A fake white beard taped to his face, Secret Santa II handed out about $10,000 in total Tuesday. Recipients included a police officer with terminal cancer, a homeless man pushing a rickety old shopping cart, an 81-year-old woman who had recently told her 27 grandchildren she wouldn’t be able to afford any Christmas gifts, and Bernadette Turner, a 32-year-old unemployed mother of two.

“It’s hard to come by,” Turner said looking in disbelief at the $200 Secret Santa had given her.

Then one of Santa’s “elves” — another tall man in a red cap — sidled up to next to Turner, asked a few questions, and handed her an additional $100. Turner, whose children are 3 and 8, was overcome.

“I can only afford one gift for each child. But now ….” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks and reaching out for a hug.

Missouri Secret Santa Hands Out Mad Cash, Spreading Joy, Disbelief at Pat Dollard


December 14, 2010 ‘Santa Claus’ donates $100,000 to Joplin Salvation Army

By Emily Younker news@joplinglobe.com Tue Dec 14, 2010, 07:47 PM CST
JOPLIN, Mo. — The Joplin Salvation Army has once again gotten an early Christmas gift from “Santa Claus.”

Five checks totaling $100,000 were dropped into the Salvation Army’s red kettle at Walgreens, 20th and Main streets, sometime between 5 and 9 p.m. Monday, Capt. Jason Poff said.

“They were folded and hidden within dollar bills,” he said. “Really, it feels surprising, shocking, amazing all at the same time when you open up a bucket and $20,000 checks start falling out.”

This is at least the fifth consecutive year in which the local organization has received a substantial anonymous donation, in the form of Commerce Bank cashier’s checks with the remitter identified as “Santa Claus.” Over the past five Christmas seasons, the local Salvation Army has reaped $350,000 in checks from the anonymous Santa.

The checks put the group about $20,000 away from this year’s Red Kettle Campaign goal of $230,000, Poff said.

Poff said he would like to thank both the donor as well as the daily Secret Santas who contribute their spare change to the red kettles.

“Obviously the amount of trust they put in us with that kind of gift is overwhelming,” he said.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of Wednesday’s Joplin Globe or register for our E-Edition at joplinglobe.com.

“Do you believe in Santa Claus?” Capt. Ray Wynn of the Kansas City, Mo., Fire Department, asked from a few feet away. Wynn had followed Stewart on many “sleigh rides” around the country and now follows this Secret Santa, providing stories, memories and amusing sound effects.

“I do now,” Turner said. “I do now.”

Secret Santa II took over from Stewart about the time the recession hit and the economy went into a tailspin. Like Stewart, this Secret Santa doesn’t talk about his own finances, where those $100 bills come from and if — like for so many people now — they’ve been harder to come by.

Come December, he just fills his pockets with money, dons his red cap and heads out looking for people to make really happy.

He will likely hand out about $40,000 this December. He says he’ll go “till the money runs out.”

“The recession, unemployment. This is the time you don’t want to stop. You don’t want to back off,” he said.

He walked up to Peggy Potter, 59, of Kansas City, Kan., who was looking at some framed prints at a thrift store. He made some small talk, put his arm around her and within minutes she was crying. Her son died about a year and a half ago. Her husband died in July and her daughter died soon after that.

“I’m just … today’s been a rough day for me, just thinking about my loved ones,” she said. “I’ve been having a hard time paying for all the funerals.”

Santa gave her $200, listened more, hugged her, and told her the poster she was holding had special meaning. It was a photo of two hands, one large, one small. Words printed at the bottom could have been written by Secret Santa, the original or the current one.

It said: “Kindness in giving creates love.”

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1666503774/-Santa-Claus-donates-100-000-to-Joplin-Salvation-Army

[Dzana]

Spare Change Pls./////

[sojii]

This is not about a Secret Santa, but I saw a newsclip this morning about a man's Christmas reunion with his mom after 30-some odd years. His father had kidnapped him as a small child, told him his mother was dead and changed his name so his mother couldn't find him. He said he always knew in his heart that she was still alive and that they would meet someday. Both he and his brother (his mother's other son) were in Desert Storm but didn't know each other. His brother kept looking for him until he found him. They met each other at the airport in the last couple of days. I'm not a cryer, but the news report would bring tears to a rock's eyes.

[tcmgpt13]

Thanks for adding that story Sojii. At this time of year it is especially good to hear stories of joyful reunions. Any chance you could post a link to the video?

[sojii]

I saw it on tv; will have to see if I can find it on the internet.

[sojii]

Military Family Reunited for Christmas

[tcmgpt13]

I can see why you started crying Sojii. That is a beautiful Christmas story, of a mother's constant love, a son's faith and another son's heart which never forgot his brother. A place at the table. Amazing. Thank you for sharing this story here. A real miracle.

[tcmgpt13]

Generous Giver Leaves A Nugget Of Gold In Army Kettle

&nbspecember 22, 2010 9:53 PM
Reporting Gwen Belton

CORAL GABLES (CBS4) -Lorraine Momberger has been a bell ringer with the Salvation Army for three years.

She says for the most part folks are pretty generous around this time of year.

But the generosity of stranger today caught her by surprise and left her breathless outside a Publix grocery store in Coral Gables.

“At first I thought It was like candy or chocolate and then as I’m investigating the thing I realized what it was and I’m, oh my goodness,” says Momberger

That thing shoved into Lorraine’s hand was this gold nugget in plastic bag.
“In the zip lock bag there was a note that says this gold nugget is a family keepsake please use it’s value to help those in need with the Salvation Army, signed a friend,” says Captain Bruce Williams.

“You always hear about something like this happening but never witness this or know people it happened to so this is a wonderful thing that’s happened today and we’re very happy that they donated it to us,” says Lorraine.

Captain Williams is Lorraine’s boss and says the gold nugget weighs 2.2 ounces and is worth $2850.00.

“It’s going to help a lot of people,” says Lorraine.

Captain Williams says “the gold nugget couldn’t have come at a better time. Donations have been down this year and they’ve been struggling to help those in need.”

“This is a blessing, we don’t know who this person is but just like to give them a heart felt thank you and god bless you and Merry Christmas,” he says.

Christmas made even more special this year through the generosity of a stranger in this season of giving.

[tcmgpt13]

Retiree Gives $10 Bills To Skid Row Homeless In LA

December 23, 2010 3:58PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Skid Row’s own Santa Claus has made his annual visit — handing out $10 bills to thousands of destitute people who queued up for several hours to receive the gift.

The 69-year-old retired lawyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said Thursday he’s been giving away $20,000 of his own money every year over the past 30 years at the Midnight Mission. Dressed in red, the benefactor says he’s always moved by the appreciation and gratitude that homeless people show. He estimates about 3,000 people receive $10 bills every Yuletide.

The donor is one of several who hand out money on Skid Row on certain days of the year. Critics say the homeless would be better served if donations were made to one of the many area charities.

Retiree Gives $10 Bills To Skid Row Homeless In LA « CBS Los Angeles- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of LA

YouTube - Retired Man Gives Away $30,000 To The...