Anonymous couple pays off $30,000 in layaways at Springfield Kmart

Giacomo Bologna, GBOLOGNA@NEWS-LEADER.COM
An anonymous couple paid off about $30,000 worth of people's items on layaway at Springfield's Kmart.

When Amanda Winchel called people this week to tell them someone had paid off their layaway purchases, the apparel manager at Springfield's Kmart said many thought it was a Christmas prank.

“They honestly wouldn’t believe us,” Winchel said.

But it's true: A couple who wished to remain anonymous recently contacted the store about paying for children's clothes and toys, she said.

In the end, Winchel said the couple spent about $30,000 to pay for 203 layaway purchases for items like dollhouses and bicycles.

“Overall, it’s been pretty amazing,” she said. “It’s probably the most generous thing I’ve witnessed since working here.”

Winchel said she's called many people to inform them about their "secret Santa" and the experience has been pretty emotional.

The first individual she called told her he had just won a lottery in Florida, so he's planning on paying his good fortune forward, Winchel said.

Another person she contacted had recently lost their home to a house fire, she said.

“This is (providing) them the Christmas they’ve been hoping for,” Winchel said. “Everyone has been extremely thankful.”

Courtney Cornish was one of the people whose layaway purchases were paid off. She said she and her husband recently relocated from Springfield to Joplin and the items on layaway were for their daughters — one of whom has an upcoming birthday.

Cornish said she works at a hospice center and now that those Kmart items have been paid off, she plans to buy decorations and presents for patients at the hospice center.

"(The anonymous couple has) given my daughter a good birthday and they’ve helped out with our Christmas,” she said. "Now, I'm going to pay it forward."

Cornish's mother, a retired widow, also had items on layaway at Kmart that were paid for, Cornish said.

“She was kind of worried how she was going to get Christmas presents for everybody,” Cornish said. “She called me in tears.”

Meagan Campbell, a college student, said she couldn't believe it when she was told her items on layaway were paid off by an anonymous donor.

"At first I thought it was fake," Campbell said. "It lifted a huge weight off my shoulders."

Campbell had Christmas presents for family members on layaway, she said, including Legos, clothes and a toy robot.

"They're helping a lot of people by doing this," she said.

Cara Gruenewald said that in the run-up to Christmas she's been working a lot of overtime as a surgical technologist. She and her husband put some bunk beds on layaway for their two sons, Gruenewald said, and they weren't sure they could afford them after her husband's truck needed repairs.

"It helped us immensely," she said of having her layaway paid off. "That brought me to tears."

What does Gruenewald think about the anonymous couple?

"They are a blessing from above," she said.