Toys R Us ‘Layaway Angel’ Pays Off 154 Accounts: Who Is She?

The Toys R Us “layaway angel” has more than 150 customers scratching their heads this Christmas season, after walking into the Bellingham, Massachusetts, store and doing the unthinkable.

MyFoxBoston reports that “around noon on Wednesday” — this would have been December 10 — an anonymous woman walked into the location and told a cashier she wanted to pay off a layaway balance.

When asked which account, the woman simply replied, “All of them.”

The final price tag for the 154 accounts? $20,000.

The news site spoke to one woman affected by the random act of generosity — Diane Brewer of Mendon — and she had trouble finding words to describe what she was feeling.

“I have no words. I can’t believe someone would do that, it’s so nice,” she said. “I have been running around all week picking up layaways everywhere, so this is really awesome.”

Brewer said that as a result of the stranger’s generosity, she “may not have to work extra shifts,” thus getting to spend more time with her family.

The Toys R Us in Bellingham noted that the balances for the layaway items ranged from a “few dollars to a few hundred,” arriving at the final $20k figure as a grand total.

Reactions to the mysterious woman’s act have been nothing but positive, with one store shopper saying she “cried a little” when she heard about it.

One of the people she helped, Jason Wood from Grafton, Massachusetts, had bought items for his 6-month-old and 5-year-old daughter.

Instead of sitting on the money he would have used to pay for his kids’ presents, he decided to buy toys for Toys for Tots instead, noting that he wished “there were more people like” the Layaway Angel and clearly taking the lesson in what she’d done.

“You’ve got to pay it forward. It’s good karma,” he said.

Lauren Carreiro Collette was another of the people the woman helped.

“I am so thankful for what she has done,” she wrote on the Fox 25 Facebook page. “She is my Christmas Angel.”

In a separate report from WCVB, the anonymous woman was quoted as hugging the store manager and saying, “If you have it, give it.”

She was described as “local” and “an older woman,” who would “sleep better at night knowing the layaways were covered.”

Still, her name has not been released. That’s how she wants it, which appears to be a lesson in itself.

What do you think about the Toys R Us Layaway Angel, readers? Sound off in our comments section.

[Image via MyFoxBoston, linked above]