North Carolina Santas Hand Out Hundred Dollar Bills to People in Need

by hearit

North Carolina has received its own "Secret Santas" -- not waiting for kids to sit on their laps but actively roaming for donors, handing out $100 bills in the form of handshakes to people in need.

Local media has let North Carolina residents in on the "secret": a crew of benevolent donors, insistent on anonymity, has handed out the hundreds to those looking like they could need the cash.

Recipients of the $100 bills included a woman working at a North Carolina Goodwill outlet store.

The holiday donors are actually handing out their own money -- said to be businessman whom are taking thousands of dollars from their own bank accounts, simply to donate the cash anonymously, to those they believe can really use the money.

The 2010 Christmas season marks the fourth holiday season that the random acts of kindness have been circulated in Charlotte, North Carolina. This year a small batch of volunteers from the Charlotte, NC, police and fire departments accompanied the "Santas" -- to suggest people they believed could be helped through the $100 handshake donations.

The origin of the more recently introduced North Carolina 'tradition' belongs to the legacy of Larry Stewart. For roughly 30 years, Kansas City businessman Larry Stewart spent his holidays seasons handing out crisp $100 bills to the people he believed were in true need of the money. It's believed that Stewart gave away more than $1 million dollars of his own cash -- anonymously as "Secret Santa." Before passing away in 2006, the businessman is said to have revealed his identity, asking friends to carry on the tradition of doling out hundreds --posing as "Santa" -- during the holiday season.