On the Sunday before Christmas I got to do one of the coolest things that I have ever done. I got to play Secret Giver. I am first going to have to give you some background information so that it will help you understand the story a little bit better.
Background info: I have a friend named Don and he bakes amazing peanut butter cookies with the kiss on top of it. A few years ago around thanksgiving he asked me if I wanted to buy a dozen of these amazing cookies for $5. I said of course I love them. He asked me don't you want to know why I am asking you to pay for them, I said sure why not. So that is when he told me what he does with the money. Don bakes cookies from thanksgiving until the weekend before Christmas and he sells them to anyone he knows for $5.00 per dozen. Then when he collects all his money he goes to Wal-Mart in a lower end part of the Kansas City area and buys a gift card. Once he has the gift card or cards (depending on how much money he collects) and then he walks around Wal-Mart and hand them to someone and says "I just want to make your Christmas a little bit better!" And that is it - Don the Secret Giver/Santa. Well the last few years I have been helping by selling these cookies to people that I work with. Last year after the HOlidays were over Don asked me if I would want to go with him to hand out the gift cards next Christmas. I said oh that would be so awesome! He said I deserved it since I sold so many cookies.
Fast forward to present Christmas season: So this season the cookie business was good - -even with the economy the way it is. Don was able to buy 5 $100.00 gift cards to Wal-mart. AWESOME!! So we (yoh, don, his wife kp, and me) are in the car and headed to Wal-mart in KCK. As we are getting closer Don says he has to tell us the 'rules.' "Rule #1 - there are no rules!! Everyone can use a little help during this season. He said you will just walk around and you will see someone who needs it and you will just go up to them and say whatever you wish to and tell them Merry Christmas!" I said "Whoa - Whoa: we (yoh & I) thought we were just along for the ride - but you are saying that we get to hand them out to people." Don was like - "yep you each get to hand out two."
Maasen's person #1 - So I wanted to go straight to the toy section, I wanted to help someone out that had a child with them. We walked around for a bit - and we were both praying that God would show us who needed this money. I saw this lady with a little girl who was so cute. We took another lap in the toy section and I decided she was the winner. I went up to her and Yoh said excuse us. Then I said hi, I just want to make your Christmas a little bit better this year. Then handed her the $100. She smiled so big and tears started forming. She hugged me and said you just made my money stretch so much farther. I am on disablity and I really dont get paid enough to do anything extra - especially Christmas. Then she thanked me again and hugged me. Then the little girl gave me a high five and said thank you. I was of course crying too. We walked away and I looked at Yoh and I said man I just love eating those cookies but this is way cool and different than I imagined.
Yoh's person #1 - Yoh went up to two ladies, sort of looked like a lady in her forties with her mother. She stopped them and said she wanted to make their Christmas even better, and then handed them the gift card. She was shocked and so happy and hugged Yoh. Then the lady showed the older lady and she had so excitement in her voice when she told her what Yoh had just given her.
Maasen's person #2 - So we were walking around and we passed the clearance section and I looked in the rows and I saw a couple in their forties or so. As we passed them I looked at Yoh and said they are shopping in the clearance section for presents. So I turned around and went up to them and said excuse me I would like to help make your Christmas a little better and then handed them the card. The lady was like are you kidding -- I responded NO that would be a cruel joke. She said thank you I am going to cry and I said that is okay. She then told me that her and her husband have 5 kids between them and that I just helped them more than I will ever know. Then the both hugged me and Yoh. Priceless!!
Yoh's person #2 - Yoh felt she was suppose to give it to 2 women. It didn't take long to spot two. So we came up behind them and Yoh said excuse me. 1 lady stopped and 1 lady was a few steps ahead. Yoh said she wanted to make their Christmas better and handed her the gift card. The lady had a puzzled look on her face then she said thank you and then walked to her friend and said wow she just gave me 100 bucks!!!
The 5th person was a lady who was in the baby section shopping for her great grand baby. KP gave her the card and she was super excited and hugged KP!
Conclusion: I wish that this is something that I could do this every Sunday during the holiday season. No really I wish that I could do this on a regular basis. It was such an awesome experience and the expressions on those peoples faces was so priceless. It really makes me want to help Don sell enough to get $1000 next year - however that is a ton of baking - but I am pretty sure that Don can handle it!!
4 years ago
