— Mike Said (@mike_said_what) December 22, 2019
After making the first donation this donor sparked a movement with many others now also joining in by settling lay-by accounts not yet fully paid up.
According to Business Insider, the man donated R337,000 to settle 363 lay-by accounts at a Pep branch in Mossel Bay and sent each of the people a note reading:
“I am grateful that I’m [in a] position [to] settle your PEP Store lay-by. I know it’s up to people to help people. It’s just the decent thing for all of us to do, disregarding any religious beliefs. I also had lay-byEs at PEP a long time ago.”
Anonymous benefactor
A Pep Stores spokesperson told Business Insider SA that the chain had been “overwhelmed” by the generosity of South Africans.
They’ve helped customers pay-off their lay-byes over the Christmas and back-to-school period – the average amount of a lay-by at Pep is R500.
“Pep employees who took part in the transactions and contacted the customers loved the feel-good moments of conveying the good news.”
Pep Stores spokesperson
As a token of thanks for “the amazing lay-by heroes of South Africa”, Pep also spent R500,000 to settle lay-byes at 2,500 Pep stores nationwide.