Faith, Hope, And The Power Of Giving Back With 1000 Layaways
Faith, Hope, And The Power Of Giving Back With 1000 Layaways
SNIPPET #073
We love this story we shared last year. As it is officially the Holiday Season again, we think it’s important to remind everyone of the value in Giving, and Kent sets an excellent example.
Before Toys R Us closed its doors, Kent had an annual tradition of giving extra holiday cheer through that store.
Last year, Kent squeezed one more special trip in. Kent Clothier and his company Real Estate Worldwide called in advance to the ToysRUs in Bay Park.
“We were contacted by Real Estate Worldwide and they wanted to come to pay off every layaway we had left in the building,” said Kendall McIntosh, Store Manager.
And that’s exactly what happened
McIntosh said President/CEO Kent Clothier showed up at the store Wednesday, December 14th, surrounded by family and friends and did exactly that. Mr. Clothier paid off $7500 in layaways, helping some 60 families across the San Diego area.
“It was all across the board different toys from 1 years olds to babies and older kids, just everything.”
A local family like the Smyth’s were just shocked…
Who would do that, who does that for me? Me? I was just shocked,” said Deidre Smyth.
“So kind, such an act of kindness, not only my family, but all those families,” said Deidre.
Real Estate Worldwide and Kent Clothier have been doing this for the last few years.
Kent started the #1000 Layaways hashtag to help make this yearly tradition go viral with the goal of paying off 1,000 layaways each and every year
It all started with my wife and I decided to show our kids what the “true meaning” of the season was. We thought about different things that we could do with our young daughter that would help her to understand the value of helping others.
Kent Clothier
CEO Real Estate Worldwide
So, we started taking our kids to Toys-R-Us, and K-Mart each year to pay off layaways for other people. We would simply go to the service counter, ask for help (most of the time it requires a manager), have them pull a list of layaway purchases that were still open, and then we would look specifically for layaways that had items on them such as toys, children’s clothes, and things that we could quickly identify were most likely Christmas presents for children.
Faith, Hope, And The Power Of Giving Back
We’d then have our kids select the ones that they wanted to pay off, give them the money, and they would hand it over to the manager of the store to complete the purchase.
Needless to say, this has been an amazing experience for our kids and they now look forward to it each year. We are committed to spreading the message and getting other people involved so we can help as many families as possible.
Last year was a HUGE SUCCESS and our 1000 Layaways program REALLY took off and was shared all over the country. This is all about remembering and enjoying what the season is really about by helping families in need.
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