PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP (WKZO) -- It began as a random act of kindness on Tuesday, and it’s blossomed into a heartwarming Christmas movement.

A woman handed $500 to an employee at the K-Mart in Plainfield township and told them to apply it to the layaway bills of a few deserving customers.  The second day, a man who had heard about the gesture contributed $2,000, paying off the layaways of 14. 

Thursday, another anonymous benefactor chipped in a thousand, and the biggest gift so far at the K-Mart in Hastings, paid off 50 layaway tabs, according to manager Dan Veenstra, where some Secret Santa gave their layaway desk $5,000. 

So far a total of 9 Secret Santas have hit the layaway desks at four K-Marts in the region, making struggling shoppers grateful.

So far the initial act of random kindness has inspired 8 copy cats.