Man donates $50K to pay off layaways at Central Pennsylvania Walmart

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. -- Someone is spreading holiday cheer by covering $50,000 worth of layaway accounts at a central Pennsylvania Walmart.

Manager Steve Myers said the benefactor showed up at the Walmart in Mechanicsburg before noon Monday with a cashier's check that barely covered the balances on about 100 accounts.

Monday was the deadline to pay off layaways. The store was about to cancel the accounts and refund the partial payments.

Instead, store associates called customers to give them the good news, although some suspected it was a joke.

The donor tells store officials people can refer to him as Santa B. He describes himself as a successful businessman.

Similar gestures include one last week at a Toys R Us in Bellingham, Massachusetts, where a woman paid $20,000 to cover 150 layaway accounts.