Anonymous 'Kmart Angels' Pay Layaway Orders

West View residents Jessica and Michael Zeppenfeld have been touched by an angel—a layaway angel.

“Last week we had heard about these Kmart angels making payments, and I said to my husband, ‘Wow, wouldn’t that be amazing if someone paid our layaway?’ ” said Jessica Zeppenfeld, 31.

“Literally 10 minutes later, a woman called from the Kmart [and] said a lady [came] in and made a payment on our layaway. We both started crying”

The anonymous generosity shown to the Zeppenfelds is one of the latest examples of a trend erupting from California to Maryland, in which benefactors head to Kmart stores across the country and pay off the layaway balance of a family chosen at random.

"It's been an organic development," said Shannell Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Sears Holdings Corp., which owns Kmart. "We don't promote it. We're just trying to keep up with the reports that keep coming in."

Those reports are increasing daily, according to Mike Divoky, 42, manager for the .

“We’ve had a bunch,” Divoky said. “Since last week, every  in the area has had at least one [layaway angel].”

He estimates that at the  at least a dozen layaway angels have put more than $1,200 toward the  of  strangers, such as the Zeppenfelds.

“It just means so much,” Zeppenfeld said.  “I just wish I could thank whoever did it.” 

The benefactors' kindness just might be Gary Kennedy's favorite part of the Christmas season. 

"It actually makes me cry," said Kennedy, store manager for  on Beaver Grade Road. "I get to make another call in about five minutes." 

Kennedy said "Kmart angels" have reached out to families in Moon too, working their magic on six families who patronize his store.

When a donor comes into the store, staff members choose families who are deliquent on their balances or who have purchased items for children, he said.

"We'll go through the list and see if anyone is delinquent and select those first," Kennedy said. "Those might be the people who are having a hard time paying their bills around Christmas." 

Kennedy said he's the one who telephones the families to tell them that an anonymous donor, their very own Kmart angel, has paid for their Christmas gifts. 

"They can get very emotional," Kennedy said. "We had one woman who just became a grandmother and wasn't sure how she was going to pay for everything this Christmas. We called and told her that her layaway was paid, and she started to cry." 

Dave Gable, store manager for  on Marketplace Boulevard, said Kmart angels have helped his store's , too. Since Friday eight donors have walked into the store to pay the layaway orders of others. 

"The people are very happy when you tell them; they get emotional," said Gable, who said the layaway order payoffs in his store have ranged from $90 to $280 per order.

Kennedy said on Monday evening a young couple walked into his Beaver Grade Road store and inquired about paying off a stranger's layaway balance. 

"And they were so enthusiastic, they were giddy," he said. "It means a lot to me. It means that there's still some good out there. No matter what the economy is doing." 

As have many other Americans, the Zeppenfelds said they have had a turbulent year. Jessica Zeppenfeld, who said she grew up in Allegheny County's foster-care system, and her husband, Michael, adopted a 10-month-old niece, Sarah, when the infant's mother no longer could care for her.

The Zeppenfelds have three other children in the family—Hannah, 8, Jacob, 6, and Olivia, 5 months. Jessica Zeppenfeld said it’s financially impossible this year to provide everything the children want for Christmas.

“Things are just so expensive these days,” she said.

Michael Zeppenfeld, 38, who works for a union at a local steel mill, and Jessica put Christmas gifts for the children, including Legos and dolls, on layaway in early December. Between the layaway angel’s $50 gift and the payment the Zeppenfelds already made, a balance of only $50 remains.

Divoky said he has never seen anything like this recent wave of generosity in his 25 years of retail-sales experience.

“It’s a really nice thing that people just show up and want to pay,” he said. “Especially because a lot of people are struggling these days.”

“It’s definitely tight,” Zeppenfeld said. “After my daughter made her list to Santa, I asked her if she could settle for just one thing that she really really wanted, but it’s hard, you know, because my kids still believe.”

Now, because of an angel, Jessica said she does, too.

“It just makes you realize there are still good people in the world.”