Secret Santa spends thousands in layaway payoff at Garden City Kmart

GARDEN CITY, Mich. (WJBK) - Some Kmart customers find thousands worth of layaway merchandise paid off by someone they don't even know.

Christmas came a week early for roughly a hundred Kmart shoppers in Garden City.

A pair of not so 'Secret Santas' splurged on strangers dropping $20,000 to pay off their layaway balances.

"When we looked through all of the receipts, one by one every bill had cold weather clothing, shoes multiple shoes and toys," said Samantha Bryson. "There was nothing else on those layaways.

FOX 2 caught up with Steve and Samantha Bryson from California by phone.

While Samantha was paying off invoices, Steve handed out $100 dollar bills to shoppers with barely anything in their carts. Talk about a pleasant surprise.

"I was able to see people go back, buy toys and come back and get back in line," he said. "I had two big men with me. They are race car drivers. All three of us had tears in our eyes."

But it was far from their first go-round. The Brysons just lavished on unsuspecting shoppers in Memphis, their hometown last week.

They happened to be in metro Detroit for a birthday party and wanted to leave folks with a bit more holiday cheer and an example to follow.

"If you're reading this story and you know my name and you can, get up and help somebody today," Steve Bryson said. "Not tomorrow, today.

"Do you know if everyone helped one person just one day, no one would go to bed hungry? I don't know if it's a statistical fact but it's something I subscribe to. I've been doing it my whole life."