Secret Santa

9 In harder times, a stranger blessed him with an act of kindness. Today he does the same for scores of others.

It happens each year. A stocky gentleman with a cap tugged low over his forehead trolls the streets of Kansas City, MO, looking for victims. The poorer, the better.

10 He stuffs a $ 100 bill -- or two or three — into their hands, murmurs, '1 think you dropped this, ' and dashes off.

Some recipients stare at the cash, stunned. Some cry. Some rub Ben Franklin's face to see if the crisp currency is real. Others smile; they've heard about this guy.

'Oh, my goodness, ' Valerie Bailey said last year after the man known as Secret Santa pushed $200 into her hands at a bus stop, two days before Christmas. 'Now I can go shopping for my grandkids.

11 A local businessman prefers to remain anonymous; Santa was once so poor, he lived in public housing. Now he sets aside $25, 000 to $50, 000 a year for his giving spree. Last year, he and his wallet also visited Mississippi, where he was born in the late 1940’s.

'I really look forward to this time of year’ he says. 'I think 1 would go into withdrawal if I didn't do it.' Giving away money, he says, fulfills a promise he made to himself nearly three decades ago, when he was an unemployed salesman, stranded and broke in a small Mississippi town.

12 He ordered a big breakfast at a local diner, he recalls, knowing he could not pay. After sipping coffee refills until the breakfast crowd thinned, he reached for his wallet and feigned shock.

The man working behind the counter bent down as if to pick up something and said, 'You must have dropped this.' Then he handed Santa a $20 bill. Thank you, Lord' Santa thought, suddenly anxious to leave before the person who'd really lost the money came back for it. Miles away, he realized what had happened.

'This guy knew I was in trouble. He gave me that twenty dollars and gave it to me in a fashion that let me keep my dignity. I said, 'Lord, if I'm ever in a position to help other people, that's what I'm going to do.'

13 Now well-to-do, Santa makes his holiday rounds with a law-enforcement officer for protection, cruising downtrodden neighbourhoods, scouring parking lots, and ducking into pawnshops. Laundromats, and thrift stores.

14 A network of informants tells him about especially needy cases. As a result, he once gave a single mother several thousand dollars just minutes after she gathered her children and announced she could not afford Christmas. Last year, he loitered in the lobby of a social service agency and wound up helping a disabled couple who needed $ 150 to keep their apartment, and a mother suffering from brain seizures who was living in a tent with her four children. ''His donations did a lot”, says Nancy.

15 Loving, a director at the agency. 'They'd never had anybody care for them like that.’ The staff also told Santa about John Layne, a 47-year-old client, who regularly volunteered to help others. Layne had presented his own watch to his social worker as a Christmas gift. He had nothing else to give.

Days later, Santa returned with a new watch and $2, 000 for Layne, who stared at the gifts in disbelief. The social worker sobbed. Santa smiled. And then he was off.

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