C. Florida Businessman Gives Huge Present To Walmart Customers
LADY LAKE (CBSMiami) - It's going to be a very Merry Christmas for multiple families who were using the layaway program at a Central Florida Walmart.
Over the weekend, Greg Parady heard a woman talking about the difficulties of paying off her items on layaway and decided to become a not-so-secret Santa Claus.
Parady, who owns Parady Financial Group, was at the store to collect bicycles for a Toys-for-Tots charity event. But by the time he was finished, 76 families had their layaway items paid for in full to the tune of $20,000.
"I haven't felt like that about a holiday in a long time," Debra Davis, a Wal-Mart employee who helped Parady go through the layaway records and one-by-one, pay off, or pay down, the balances.
Davis told The Villages Daily Sun that Parady's generosity "resonated through the whole store and is still resonating with employees."
In all, Wal-Mart officials say Parady donated money to pay down the accounts of 76 customers. A handful of customers who were at the store had their balances paid in full. Others had their balances paid down.
A single mother and a woman who is battling cancer and had almost given up on the hopes of getting a new television were among those helped by Parady's gift.
Wal-Mart officials say the financial planner told them about half the money came from his personal credit card. The other half came from his company.
Cindy Nazzaro, the managing partner at Parady Financial, told the newspaper she's not surprised by his act of kindness.
"I've known him for years and he just does things because he feels like doing them," she said. "It brought us all to tears ... and made me realize we work in an awesome community. This is Greg's way of giving back to the community, paying them back for how gracious they've been to us."
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