she plans to use the money she was saving for the toys to help pay for someone else's layby.



In Missoula, Montana, a man spent more than US$1200 to pay down the balances of six customers whose layby orders were about to be returned to a Kmart store's inventory because of late payments.



Store employees reached one beneficiary on her cellphone at Seattle Children's Hospital, where her son was being treated for an undisclosed illness.



"She was yelling at the nurses, 'We're going to have Christmas after all!'" store manager Josine Murrin said.



A Kmart in Plainfield Township, Michigan, called Roberta Carter last week to let her know a man had paid all but 40 cents of her US$60 layby.



Carter, a mother of eight from Grand Rapids, Michigan, said she cried uponhearing the news. She and her family have been struggling as she seeks a full-time job.



"My kids will have clothes for Christmas," she said.



Angie Torres, a stay-at-home mother of four children under the age of eight, was in the Indianapolis Kmart on Tuesday to make a payment on her layby bill when she learned the woman next to her was paying off her account.



"I started to cry. I couldn't believe it," said Torres, who doubted she would have been able to pay off the balance. "I was in disbelief. I hugged her and gave her a kiss."