Good samaritans known as "Secret Santas" have been descending on Kmart stores around the nation this holiday season, paying off the layaway accounts of strangers.

At a store in Concord Tuesday, the Secret Santa payoffs totaled $1,400. Managers at the store told KTVU they've never seen anything like it. 

"All different kinds of people," said Norma Arreola, an assistant manager at a K-Mart in Concord.  "For example, the grandma who came in with her grandson.  He had 18 dollars to give for someone's layaway."

People with the layaway accounts find out when they come in to make a payment that's no longer necessary.  The "Secret Santas" sometimes leave a balance of one cent, just to keep the account open.

"Whoever it was, thank you, angel, God bless you," said Joe Montanez of Pittsburg as he plunked down a penny as a final payment on a $50 account.

In Hayward, a anonymous donor spent almost $10,000 to pay off 60 accounts holding children's toys and clothing earmarked for Christmas purchase.

The "Secret Santa" phenomenon was started last week by a woman in Michigan.

Since then K-Mart's across the nation say more than a thousand layaway accounts have been paid off, amounting to almost a half-million dollars.