Community Chat

[Plaid Pants2]

I have.

It's something that I like to do every year.

It's really easy to do.

Just go to your local K-Mart, Target, or wherever, and when you go to the lay-away department, you can tell the person there that you would like to be an angel.

You decide how much you want to spend, and they'll take care of the rest.

You don't know whose account you are paying for.

I like to pay for the ones that have kids toys, because at least one family will have a happy Christmas.

Yesterday I paid off two accounts, so that is two families that will have a brighter Christmas.

I wish that I could have paid off all of the accounts, but I'm not made of $.

I also like the idea that some Mom or Dad will get a very happy surprise when they found out that an anonymous stranger paid off their account.

It's just my little way of giving back to my community.

So, have you ever been a Lay-Away Angel?

[meallen616]

Great idea,

[wilma]

What a sweet and generous idea! I have never done that, but my church sponsored 6 families in our area for Christmas this year. Every year we buy gifts, food, and gift cards to stores so the families can have a brighter holiday. 

[CrazyDaisy]

Isn't the point to be anonymous?

[dex]

@Plaid Pants2 That is a very nice thing to do .You are an angel for sure!I have never heard of that term before but I will try it next year....love that.

[rustee]

I buy jackets to donate to the yearly Coats-for-Kids campaign in our area.

[dex]

@CrazyDaisy She is ....do you know plaidpants.I like getting the message out so more people could participate if they wished.I haven't heard of this but I like the idea.

[SahmIam]

Not a Lay-Away Angel but DH and I (before kids) would go a week or before Christmas Eve to a store near us that always had a tree with little paper decorations and on each decoration was the name of someone and their wish list: usually clothes, sometimes a fuzzy blanket. Often there were children who had filled out a paper decoration with coat, mittens, sweater, PJ's but never a toy. It saddened me to see that these people would not receive something and that a child would go without a toy so......

we would get a CS rep and tell them to pull off the decorations and we would fulfill all the requests.  In addition, we would add a toy to each child whose name was on the tree. 

We did this for years. The year our first child was born, we went to the store and there was no tree. One of the managers saw us, came over and informed us that new management of the company had decided no more charitable events. (The names came from county shelters and programs that helped the socially disadvantaged). 

The store didn't give anything free to the people, customers were the one buying the items so I never understood why they did that. Anyway, now we do something through our local PTA and the county. Your idea, however, is one I'm thinking we will start to do. Thank you, Plaid Pants!! : )

[Annabellethecat66]

That's a good idea!  I do things like send a check to a friend (in my case my friend from high school does a lot of volunteer work with animals).  So I send her a check in an amount (usually around $50) and tell her to donate it to whatever animal shelter she wants in memory of one of her furbabies.  I also donate during the year to a group of people who work so hard to see to it that cats that have been hurt are able to get the operations they need.  This is where I got my two cats from.

I give to local churches (that way you know where the money is going), I have money automatically taken out monthly from St Judes.  Every year I raise the amount.  It's a good way to donate and you don't miss the money (if you'd given it in a lump sum).

I have several friends who donate time to various local charities.  I send them checks to help out.

Little things like that can make a difference.  I don't donate to large companies (like Cancer Society) because I want to know it's spent frugally and I want to help my area where I live.

Recently, a friend's dog died.  She's another friend who posts on FB video's of the animals around her house, the birds, etc.  She makes me smile almost every day.  I sent her a check and (like the other) said donate it to her favorite pet charity in memory of her beloved dog.  She did.

My best friend's parents have been going through a difficult time emotionally.  I sent her Mother a bouquet of flowers to cheer her.  You'd have thought I'd given her a million dollars.  

I don't believe in sending flowers to funerals, I send them to people who are alive and can see and smell them.

My guess is most of the people on here do things for others all during the year.  We each do whatever we can for others.

Everyone here is kind and thoughtful.  This is the only website I post on because I like the people here.  I like the way we can agree to disagree and still be kind.

I love reading about all of you guys.  I'd never thought of doing what the OP did.  I learned something new and will consider doing it.  Thanks to all of you for helping me be a better person.

[shoptilyadropagain]

What a wonderful idea.  I've never heard of this before.....heck, I didn't even realize people still used layaways.

I normally donate to our church's food pantry throughout the year and every year we take on 3 or 4 families at Christmas and I've always donated to that as well.  This year, I took a much needed vacay and missed two Sundays and the money drive for the families had already ended so I ended up giving a check to the food pantry as I found out the fund was really low.  To me, this is what Christmas is all about!