in retail for 40 years, had never seen anything like it.



"It was like an angel fell out of the sky and appeared in our store," she said.



Most of the donors have done their giving secretly.



Dona Bremser, an Omaha nurse, was at work when a Kmart employee called to tell her that someone had paid off the US$70 balance of her layby account, which held nearly US$200 in toys for her four-year-old son.



"I was speechless," Bremser said. "It made me believe in Christmas again."



Dozens of other customers have received similar calls in Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Montana.



The benefactors generally ask to help families who are squirreling away items for young children. They often pay a portion of the balance, usually all but a few dollars or cents sodiscount stores that has offered layby year-round for about four decades.



The sad memories of laybys lost prompted at least one good Samaritan to pay off the accounts of five people at an Omaha Kmart, said Karl Graff, the store's assistant manager.



"She told me that when she was younger, her mum used to set up things on layaway at Kmart, but they rarely were able to pay them off because they just didn't have the money for it," Graff said.



He called a woman who had been helped, "and she broke down in tears on the phone with me. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to pay off their layby and was afraid their kids weren't going to have anything for Christmas."



"You know, 50 bucks may not