Secret Santa Unveils
I found this story on AOL news this morning. I am printing the whole story, with full credit to AOL, because I am afraid if I just put in a “click here” thingy, you won’t go to the trouble. This complements a recent blog entry by Jewaira on opportunities for charitable giving locally . . . this man made a career of secretly giving back.
Grave Illness Unmasks Generous ‘Secret Santa’
Man Who Gives Money to the Needy Reveals Himself to Pass Mission on to Others
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Nov. 17) – The answer to one of the happiest mysteries in the Kansas City area is being revealed this year. A man who has given away millions of dollars and become known as Secret Santa for handing out Christmas cash to the needy is allowing his name to be publicized after 26 years.
In April, doctors told Stewart that he had cancer of the esophagus. It has spread to his liver and he is undergoing treatment.
But the reason for the revelation is an unhappy one. Secret Santa has cancer. He wants to start speaking to community groups about his belief in random acts of kindness, but he can’t do that without telling people who he is.
The man who has spread cheer for 26 years is Larry Stewart, 58, of Lee’s Summit, who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.
Stewart told The Kansas City Star that he was the man who would walk up to complete strangers, hand them $100 bills, wish them “Merry Christmas” and walk away, leaving astonished and grateful people in his wake. He handed out money throughout the year, but he said it was the Christmas giving that gave him the most joy.
Now, he wants to inspire others to do the same. He said he thinks that people should know that he was born poor, was briefly homeless, dropped out of college, has been fired from jobs, and once even considered robbery.
But he said every time he hit a low point in his life, someone gave him money, food and hope, and that’s why he has devoted his life to returning the favors.
Stewart grew up in Bruce, Miss., reared by his elderly grandparents, who survived on $33 a month and welfare staples. They heated water on the stove for baths and used an outhouse.
After he left home and college, he found himself out of work in 1971. After sleeping in his car for eight nights and not eating for two days, Stewart went to the Dixie Diner in Houston, Miss., and ordered breakfast. When the bill came, he acted as if he’d lost his wallet.
The diner owner came to him.
“You must have dropped this,” the owner said, slipping a $20 bill into the young man’s hand.
He paid, pushed his car to the gas station, and left town. But he vowed to remember the stranger’s kindness, and to help others, when he could.
He arrived in Kansas City because he had a cousin here. He got married and started his own company, with money from his father-in-law.
But the company failed in 1977 and he couldn’t pay the bills. It was the lowest point in his life.
“I was a failure in business. I was a failure as a husband. I was a failure as a father,” he remembers thinking.
He got into his car with a handgun and thought about robbing a store. But he stopped and went home – and got a call from his brother-in-law, offering him money to tide him over.
After being fired from two jobs on two successive Christmases, Stewart stopped at a drive-in. Although he had little money himself, Stewart gave a cold and miserable carhop the change from a $20, much to her delight.
That’s when Stewart’s mission to secretly give away money at the holidays began.
Eventually, Stewart became a success and started Network Communications in 2002. The firm used independent sales agents to enroll customers for Sprint long-distance service.
In 1996, an arbitration panel ordered Sprint to pay Network and its sales agents $60.9 million in commissions it owed. Stewart got $5.2 million.
The poor boy from Mississippi now had a family, lived in a nice house and drove nice cars.
So, he started giving away more money, to dozens of causes. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The Salvation Army. The National Paralysis Foundation. The ALS Foundation. He supports the Metropolitan Crime Commission’s Surviving Spouse and Family Endowment program.
And, all along, he gave away money to needy strangers.
But Christmas was special. He’d distribute thousands of dollars during visits to coin laundries, thrift stores, barbershops and diners.
People shouted with joy, cried, praised the Lord, and thanked Stewart repeatedly.
But Secret Santa moved on quickly to avoid attention.
He did sometimes invite newspaper and TV reporters along, if they promised not to reveal his identity. It was reporters who dubbed him “Secret Santa.”
In 1989, after some people chased his car when they saw the cash he carried, he decided he needed protection. He called Jackson County Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Phillips.
“I thought, ‘OK, this guy’s nuts,”‘ recalls Phillips, now the Jackson County sheriff. “But at the end of the day, I was in tears – literally – just seeing what he did to people.”
Eventually, Secret Santa took his sleigh ride to other places.
In 2001, after the terrorist attacks, he went to New York. The New York cop who accompanied him said he’d never forget the experience.
In 2002, Secret Santa was in Washington, D.C., victimized by the serial snipers. In 2003, it was San Diego neighborhoods devastated by wildfires. And in 2004, he was in Florida, helping thousands left homeless by three hurricanes.
Last Christmas, Secret Santa went back to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast.
He stopped in Houston, Miss., where the diner owner had helped him so many years ago. On a previous visit he had surprised the owner, Ted Horn, with $10,000. This time, they stamped $100 bills with the name “Ted Horn,” and gave Horn money to distribute. And Horn took money from his own bank account to give away, too.
Stewart has enlisted “elves” for years – George Brett, the late Buck O’Neil, Dick Butkus. He’s already inspired copycats.
Four other Secret Santas plan to distribute a total of $70,000 of their own cash this year.
And Secret Santa plans to give away $100,000 this year. Since he started, he estimates he’s given out more than $1.3 million in Christmas cash.
But this will likely be the last Christmas for Stewart’s tradition. In April, doctors told Stewart that he had cancer of the esophagus. It had spread to his liver. He needed treatment, fast.
With help from Brett, he got into a clinical trial at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. Doctors tell him the tumors have shrunk, but they can’t say whether the cancer is in remission.
“I pray for that man every single day,” former Kansas City Chiefs star Deron Cherry – one of Stewart’s elves – says. “There’s a lot of people praying for him.”
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What a wonderful, wonderful story that brought tears to my eyes.
And the most inspiring thing is that this man did not turn bitter despite all the hardships of his life
Thanks, Jewaira, I loved this story too. And as I read it, I thought “it all started with one kind diner owner who took pity on him and GAVE him $20 to pay for his meal” and I thought of your story, and how the main character gives to the street urchin. We never know when something so small to us, something we forget, changes the life of someone else for the better, and how that little seed grows and grows. Wow.
A very touching story!
Makes you wonder if you have ever done anything to someone that changed his/her life forever. The sad thing though is that he helped so many people with his money, but might not be able to use it to help himself.
“The sad thing though is that he helped so many people with his money, but might not be able to use it to help himself.”
Elijah, I disagree. He has used the money to help himself: he has used it again and again over the years, to help him achieve his best self. His illness is cause for sorrow, but I see the ‘lesson’ of his life, and his ability to serve, unmasked, as a model for others, as sources of great joy.
I agree, what I said didn’t sound right. I’m sure what he has acheived is more than what we can imagine.
It’s just that it made me think how rich people can buy almost anything with their money but life itself.
Elijah – I think you are a teacher! OMG, what POWER you have over the lives of others! Even as an adult, when my Arabic instructor would give me a star for writing a word correctly on the board, I would take that star home and put it on my mirror! It’s the amazing power of recognizing the slightest accomplishment and celebrating it, of kindness and understanding to your students.
When I read your blog, dear one, I know you are changing lives, giving your students new tools, even if on a daily basis the changes are so small that you can’t see it.
Little Diamond – I think of what joy you brought others, you and your sister, little girls, volunteering in the soup kitchens with your parents. Just the sight of your normalcy (well, all things being relative!) and healthiness and sweetness must have been a blessing to the homeless and crazy who prefer the life on the streets.
Wow! Thanks for the motivation. I hope you didn’t read my ‘Bad Day’ post though π
I did read your ‘bad day’ post(s). Sigh. We all have a bad day – bad week – bad season, even (horrors) a bad year now and then. Hang in there. You are doing all the right things – exercise, getting out, taking good care of yourself, listening to good music. . . and if all else fails, I have seen wonderful changes in the lives of good friends with the help of Prozac, etc. One dear friend went from sad to managing partner of a multi-million dollar corporation. Yes, that dramatic. Sometimes it’s hormones, sometimes it’s life situations, and sometimes it’s just unbalanced chemistry. Hope, dear one, and don’t be too hard on yourself.
I think this is an incredible story. I would like to be added to the list of secret santas. I sincerely believe that giving is the greatest. I wish alot more people would do as this secret santa. What a wonderful world this would be if everyone would be so inclined to give someone a handup in their time of despair/hopelssness. What a great thing that would be. In the spirit of giving: Lisa Mulligan
Good Morning, Lisa! Welcome.
You said “I would like to be added to the list of secret santas.” As of now, you are officially added. Keep extra money on you, with the intention of giving it where it might be needed, without needing to know the outcome. Over-tip. Put money in the Salvation Army bucket (they remain, over and over, the charity in the US with the lowest overhead) Volunteer to ring that bell yourself. Tithe. Put your money in God’s hands and he will work the miracles of redemption.
hi my name is vanessa freeman, ilive at 249 n klibourn ave 1st fl. chicago il 60624 my tel…773-378-1297. i am a 44 yr with a brain tumor, tyroid asthma, and hep-b, i use too work with the salvation army bell ringer for christmas. at the salvation army and on ashland and odgan. at the time captain ihoe where their. in the year 87-88.now i have a christmas wish for my family exspecial my 3 grandchildrens 2boy and 1 girl age1 and the boys are 3. i wish that my family can have a nice christmas i cant afford too buy them anything because i am on a fixed income that have to go on my rent ijust moved here because of the apartment we were living in it has a large sewer pot hole inside of the apartment and it smell really bad.which keep my family sick. sorry for the long letter. but i am wishing for a happy christmas for my family can someone please respond call me write me respond please. make my grandchildrens christmas wish come throught. and may god bless the gifted person who shares his gifts time money and love for christmas all through the years. i never meet the person who surprize peoples puting 100.00 in their caddlewhen they ring the bell for salvation army.i would like too write him and meet with him to tell him how blessed he are .that god will always be with us all. thank you all and may god bless you all.
hi steward vanessa freeman,iwould like to keep in touch with you. you have an very interresting life god have blessed you in so many way. he gave you. not just a hard life because something good came out of it. i would love to be your pen-pal. i also have cancer. i would like too share some life story of mines. will you be abl to respond. if so call, e-mail me write me.from readin your life. it touches me.very ;inspiring.and you gave back and thats a blessing.
you will alway be that special person. may the lord all wys be with you. respond sometimes if this letter reaches you. vanessa freeman,249 n kilboun ave chicago il 60624
773-378-1297.
I read about Larry Stewart’s problems and I hope I could help him to win in the cancer war.
I need his email to write him and, if he agree, I shall sent him what to do.
God bless we!
Mircea T
Please to who ever might read my family and I moved to texas about 7 months ago,life hasn’t been the easiest but we’ve made it so far.My comment is for help this Christmas, for my children. I have 4 Children and my husband I could really use anybody help to make this a good christmas. My address is 12919 windfern rd apt 1403 houston texas and my phone # is 281-890-8692 oh sorry zip is 77064. please if you could help.