Feel Good Friday: Tyler Perry Pays Off 430 THOUSAND Dollars Worth Of Christmas Layaways
The holidays can be an incredibly stressful time for people, especially if you’re struggling financially. There’s a lot of societal pressure to show your loved ones you really care about them with the perfect Christmas present, or for Santa to bring your kids the game they’ve been waiting all year for! But how can a family that’s barely getting by, all of a sudden afford ridiculously expensive Christmas presents?
Layaway! Layaway allows people to pick their items and pay for them slowly, over an extended period of time. Once the item has been fully paid for, the customer can then take it home. My family used layaway a lot when I was little. I have fond memories of cruising over to Walmart with my grandma and waiting in line with her so she could make her layaway payment. I would get so excited wondering what she was paying for- maybe, just maybe, it was for me! Or maybe she was buying a television for the family that didn’t require us fidgeting with the antenna for what seemed like forever, just to get a decent picture. Whatever it was, I knew it was going to be awesome!
And none of it would be possible without layaway.
Which is why what Tyler Perry did is truly a Christmas miracle.
AMAZING. Tyler Perry went into two Walmarts in Georgia and paid off more than $430,000 worth of layaways for complete strangers. He just changed the holidays for hundreds of families out there, just because he wanted to. That’s fucking awesome. And what makes this gesture even more special is that he was inspired by the owner of the New Orleans Saints, Gayle Benson, who recently paid off 408 layaways (also at Walmart) totaling almost $100,000!
AND it’s not just celebrities that are doing it!
A Walmart spokesman confirmed to CNN that an anonymous donor paid for $57,000 in layaway items at a Uniondale, New York, store while another spent $44,000 in a Longmont, Colorado, store and a third shelled out $29,000 at a Walmart in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
This is the perfect reminder that good people are everywhere, doing good everyday. We may not see it, it may not make the top headline, but it does happen. And it feels pretty damn good to know that.