REVEALING
SECRET SANTA

Topics: Christmas; Generosity; Giving; Hope; Money; Stewardship; Testimony

References: Leviticus 25:35; Deuteronomy 15:7; Proverbs 11:25; 22:9; Matthew 6:3; 19:16–26; Luke 6:38; 11:39–41; Acts 20:35; 2 Corinthians 9:7

Just prior to the 2006 Christmas season, Larry Stewart, fifty-eight, a successful businessman from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, revealed that he was the Secret Santa who has been doling out hundred-dollar bills to the needy every Christmas for the past twenty-six years. Stewart said he decided to go public after it became apparent that a tabloid newspaper was going to reveal his name. Now he hopes to inspire others to become Secret Santas.

In the winter of 1971, Stewart was working as a door-to-door salesman, when the company he was working for went out of business. Stewart quickly ran out of money. He hadn’t eaten in two days when he went to Dixie Diner and ordered a breakfast he eventually admitted he couldn’t pay for. Ted Horn, the restaurant owner, acted like he found a twenty-dollar bill on the floor underneath Stewart’s chair. “Son, you must have dropped this,” Horn said.

“It was like a fortune to me,” Stewart said. His response was to vow, “Lord, if you ever put me in a position to help other people, I will do it.”

Over the years, Stewart estimates that he has given away about $1.3 million, for which he has been amply rewarded. “I see looks of hopelessness turn to looks of hope in an instant,” he says. “After all, isn’t that what we’re put here on earth for—to help one another?”

—Nanci Hellmich, “Santa Shares His Secret,” USA Today (December 22, 2006)