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- KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)
- Every Christmas for 20 years, the city's ``Secret Santa'' has wandered
the streets handing $100 bills to those who seem in need.
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- He was giving out cash on Thursday to people standing
on street corners, waiting for buses, shopping in grocery stores, buying
gas.
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- Now a successful businessman, he went to Nick and Betty's
Cafe, where Nick used to let him run a tab when times weren't so good.
He gave waitress Kim Hoy $300 - one bill for her, and one for each of her
children.
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- ``I can't handle this,'' Hoy said through tears. ``This
is the first Christmas without my mom. I wasn't looking forward to it.''
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- The man says he usually gives away $50,000, and estimated
he was dispensing about $85,000 this year. His keeps his identity secret,
in the custom of a ``Secret Santa.''
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- ``I don't even know that man,'' said 69-year-old Jerry
Brooks, who received $100 as he shopped for a scarf in a thrift store.
``I can't believe that. I don't know where he came from, but if he doesn't
live to be 500, I'll eat my hat.''
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- As the man continued his tradition this year, he paused
to remember why it began.
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- It was 1971 in Houston, Miss. He was homeless and hungry,
and the owner of the Dixie Diner bought him breakfast - while saving his
dignity.
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- The man had been working as a salesman for a small company
that suddenly went out of business. Left without a paycheck, he lived in
his car for eight days until running out of gas and food.
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- Desperate, he walked into Ted Horn's diner, ordered a
big breakfast and tried to think of a way to get away without paying.
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- Horn, who was his own cook, waiter and cashier, took
note of the man's plight. He walked behind the man, reached down as if
he'd dropped something and handed him $20.
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- The man ran as fast as he could, pushed his car to the
gas station and got out of town.
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- On the road, though, he thought about what Horn had done.
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- This year, he asked a friend to help him find Horn, and
went back down to Houston.
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- He walked into Horn's home to find him holding a magazine
article about Kansas City's ``Secret Santa.'' Horn, 81, knew the man in
the article was the person he'd helped many years ago.
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- ``I'm that guy who was there 28 years ago,'' the man
said. Horn nodded.
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- He asked Horn what he thought that $20 bill was worth
today.
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- ``Probably like $10,000,'' Horn said.
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- A good number, the man said, and handed him an envelope.
Inside was $10,000.
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- ``Good God,'' whispered Horn, who is caring for a wife
with Alzheimer's disease after battling cancer and other ailments.
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- David Horn, his son, was astounded.
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- ``For this man to come down and do this for my father
- it's almost more than we can bear,'' he said.
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- The man and Horn then went downtown and had lunch, and
soon, his giving ways began again. Waitresses and cooks cried out in joy.
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- Then he went to a laundry, to a drive-in, to the barber
cutting hair where Horn's diner used to be, leaving a trail of cash everywhere.
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