Michelle Slater
RANDOM acts of kindness have seen Traralgon Toyworld shoppers rewarded with lay-buys paid off in time for Christmas.
Yinnar man Shane Lambert was given a special surprise when he found out about $160 worth of lay-buys was paid for by generous donors.
The keen Lego fan had put a couple of boxes on lay-buy for himself to be paid off after Christmas, but learned he could take them home early.
Mr Lambert said he liked to tinker with Lego to keep his “mind and hands busy” when sitting at home.
“Toyworld rang me up and said they had a surprise for me. I thought a new Lego had come in before Christmas, but they told me someone had paid off my lay-buys. It was a shock,” Mr Lambert said.
“It brought tears to my eyes, I don’t cry much. At this time of year, it was totally unexpected. It makes me feel good to get out of bed in the morning, it’s nice for this to happen out of the blue.”
Traralgon Toyworld employee Fiona Hallam said a church group had donated $5000 towards paying off 40 shop lay-buys, while another donor put $500 towards chipping $50 off other purchases.
Ms Hallam said she was aware of similar donations being made at other Victorian Toyworld stores, but this was the first time it happened in Traralgon.
“We were blown away, it was such a generous thing to do, when we rang to let customers know, we had tears and disbelief, they thought we were joking,” Ms Hallam said
“It was unbelievable, some are finding it hard and are stressed about how they would pay the lay-buys before Christmas for the kids. People are looking out for each other.”
