I know most of us have been involved in the Secret Santa thing at some point – at work, at church, etc. If you haven’t, it usually happens when someone draws your name and gets you something for Christmas, but they don’t reveal who they are, they just sign the card Secret Santa.
But in Kansas City, one man has taken this to great lengths. Every December for 26 years, he has given money out on the streets of the city. It started out simply enough, with him handing out five and ten dollar bills. But as his fortune grew, so did his heart and the gifts got larger – $100 bills. He enjoyed this so much, he trained special “elves” to give out money too. How much did this add up to over 26 years? He has given away an estimated $1.3 million dollars.
Anonymous all these years, he has finally come forward, but for a sad reason. Businessman Larry Stewart has cancer of the esophagus and is undergoing chemotherapy, for which his insurance won’t pay. Treatments are $16,000 a month and now he is worried about his family’s financial security. He hopes that by revealing his identity, someone else will take up his random acts of kindness.
How did all this start? Back in 1979, Larry was fired right before Christmas. He was at a drive-in restaurant when he noticed that the waitress coming to the car had a light jacket on. He thought about how she was worse off than him – she was struggling to make a living out in the cold. He gave her a $20 and told her to keep the change. That small act of kindness brought tears to her eyes. As a Christmas present to himself, he took $200 out of the bank and gave it to people all around town.
Now, with his illness, he hopes for even a bigger mission than just handing out money. He hopes to talk to groups about his kindness to help inspire them as well.
The Christmas season is quickly approaching and I am going to challenge each of you. Try dropping a dollar or two in the Salvation Army bucket, offering a homeless person a ten-dollar bill to get lunch, or even the proverbial “help an old lady across the street” and see how good it makes you feel!