Secret Santa: Join the Secret Santa Society

On November 20th, 2006 Larry Stewart announced that he was the Secret Santa who gave money away each year. It’s fun to see who the real Secret Santa is after all these years. There have been times when I wished he would walk up to me during the holiday season. Especially during the Christmas season when I was homeless and riding the bus to stay warm.

How did it all start? In 1971, unemployed and living in his car, Stewart ordered and ate a breakfast he knew he couldn't pay for in a small-town Mississippi diner. He pretended to have lost his wallet, but the restaurant's owner came around the counter, bent toward the floor and then leaned into Stewart, extending a $20 bill. 

"He said you must have dropped this," Stewart recalled. "That was my ticket out. I said a little prayer and made a promise to God to find a way to pay it back." 

The joy is tinged with a little sadness though. In news reports across the United States we find out that Larry Stewart has advance cancer to his throat and liver. He is looking for a successor to continue on with his good deeds. The sadness that bothers me is that Larry Stewart said that he couldn’t pay his medical bills and was worried about his family.

For a man who helped out so many people with so much. Why are people not flocking to help Larry out? I’m sure that Larry and his family would appreciate it. I personally would make a donating to the Secret Santa fund if I had money to give. I’m a struggling writer though, who is trying to make a living writing articles like this.

One dollar though? One dollar from everyone who has heard about Larry Stewart and his generosity would make our Secret Santa a millionaire all over again. I don’t think he would take the money though because what he has been doing is from the heart.

There is something that you can do though to honor this man. Join the Secret Santa Society and be like Larry Stewart and Ted Horn. Commit to one single selfish act toward another person.