Paying it forward -- "Secret Santa" spreads money and hope

[VespertineIconoclast]

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - He's known as the "Secret Santa," a white-haired man in a red flannel shirt who gives no name or explanation as he stuffs $100 or more into a stranger's hand.

He's given a couple of hundred to a homeless woman, a little more to a mother of two stranded at a bus station, $1,000 to an elderly man in a tattered sweater and $5,000 to the widow of a fallen firefighter.

The smallest gift was $5, given 26 years ago. The largest gift was $10,000, in 1999. In all, the man who has traveled the United States each holiday season to spread some of his wealth estimates he has handed out about $1.3 million.

"We are all supposed to share our blessings. This is just one way," said 58-year-old Larry Stewart, who is giving away money to fulfill a pledge he made in 1971, when he was hungry and homeless and a stranger gave him $20.

Now a millionaire through investments in cable and telecommunications, Stewart said he has never forgotten how "it feels to be hopeless." He wants his donations to both help people who appear to be needy, and help spread a sense of hope and faith in humanity.

...

Stewart said he had hoped to stay anonymous. But after being diagnosed in April with advanced cancer in his esophagus and liver, he started to share his story, hoping others will pick up the task as he starts a 13th round of chemotherapy in January.

He has four "Santas in training," who will help him give away $165,000 this December, with the first stop in Chicago.

He has also set up a "society of Secret Santas" (http://www.secretsantausa.com/), whose members must pledge to commit at least one "random act of kindness." More than 2,700 people had joined the society within two days of Stewart announcing his goal of encouraging others to give.

...

"This has never been about me," he said. "This is about the kind of giving, random and without the expectation of anything back... that can change a person."

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http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyID=2006-11-21T213910Z_01_N21330836_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-SANTA.xml&WTmodLoc=InDepthNewsHome_C1_-2&rpc=92

[xchrom]

1. now, that's what you call lovely.

[VespertineIconoclast]

2. Exactly -- that's why it's so sad the guy dying.

:( It's wonderful that he is trying to spread the spirit of giving in his last days....

[xchrom]

3. the spirit of christmas/yule

and all it's ancient meaning.

few will ever be as beautiful as this guy.

[VespertineIconoclast]

4. Agreed.

Imagine a world where those who CAN help others DO help others.... I like how the guy focuses not only on the "big" things people may need (i.e.- money), but the "small" things -- just a random act of kindness given freely without strings attached. He truly is a beautiful person.

[VespertineIconoclast]

5. Kick!

:kick: To give night DUers a chance to read this heartwarming story. :)