GILBERT, AZ (CBS5) -
This weekend we've brought you the story of layaway angels - people who pay off other shoppers' layaway items at stores to make Christmas a little brighter. Normally they do so anonymously and never see who they bought gifts for. But on this Christmas Eve we follow one Gilbert grandmother whose holiday just became a whole lot brighter.
"Times are tough and we're trying to show our baby Aiden that sometimes it's better to give than to receive," said one layaway angel, Josh Apodaca, who paid off one woman's layaway items at an east Mesa Kmart and then, like Santa, slipped away before she picked them up.
"The voicemail said, 'This is Frank from Kmart and I just wanted you to know that one of our secret angels paid off your layaway,'" said Linda Mitchell. Mitchell has two kids, a grandson, and a heart of gold. And she had a great job, until she got a letter this week saying her 17 years of service will soon come to an end.
"I don't worry about things I can't control, I just go with the flow," Mitchell said. Amazingly, she hasn't skipped a beat, and can't wait to spend the holiday with her 2-year-old grandson.
"Dante Javier was born July 19th of 2009 and that is just the light of my life," Mitchell said. After already buying gifts for needy children this year, Linda put some toys for Dante on layaway at Kmart. She was going to pay for them Saturday night when she got a call from Kmart telling her someone had already taken care of it.
"I'm like, 'Shut up'" she said. She is so grateful, especially because she's usually the one paying it forward.
"It was a help because now I can take that money and focus it on something else," Mitchell said. Like clothes for her growing grandson, or for the next job she's decided to take on: foster parenting.
"There's a need for foster parents," she said. She added she's attending a foster parent orientation next month and hopes to take care of two children who need good homes by the time her employment is up - showing that what goes around, comes back around.
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