Reporter's Notebook: Behind Secret Santa's viral success

Steve Hartman has reported on scores of inspirational stories throughout the years for the "CBS Evening News." There is only one story Hartman has ever repeated, and that is the story of Secret Santa - an anonymous businessman from Kansas City who gives out $100,000 in $100 bills every year to people in need.

"We never do stories, the same story two years in a row, but we made an exception for this," Hartman said on CBSN Friday.

Two years in a row turned into seven. "It never gets old to see somebody getting $100 that they had no idea was coming," he said.

The story was slightly different this year, however. Secret Santa did not give all the cash away by himself, instead deputizing actual deputies from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department to help.

The video has more than 37 million views on Facebook. "Usually you need to be a cat swatting at a goat or something like that to have a viral video get that many views," Hartman said.

So why has this year's Secret Santa story taken off? Hartman thinks it's probably because of Secret Santa's extra helpers.

"It's a little different because the police are doing it and actually that's what I think it was, given everything that's been going on with law enforcement this year," Hartman said. "I think it was just kind of refreshing to see that."