December 16, 2012

Secret Santa is coming to town, but what town?

He wants suggestions for places where randomly distributed $100 bills are, perhaps, most needed.

By Dennis Hoey dhoey@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PORTLAND - Secret Santa is gearing up for another round of unannounced holiday visits in which he hands out $100 bills to complete strangers.

Last year, Secret Santa and his helpers visited four communities, including Bangor, as well as a food pantry in Brunswick, giving away more than $20,000.

This year, Secret Santa, who refuses to identify himself or let people know in advance where he will be stopping, wants the public to make suggestions about places where he could hand out money before Christmas.

Secret Santa is soliciting advice at his e-mail address -- SecretSantaPortland@gmail.com or on his new Facebook page at SecretSantaPortland.

"We hope people understand that it is impossible for us to reach out to assist people on a one-to-one basis, for safety and logistical reasons. We have taken the approach of targeting locations such as thrift stores and food banks to appear where we can have a high likelihood of reaching those people in need," Secret Santa said in a news release.

Secret Santa said he hopes that others will emulate his actions by "paying it forward," and giving what they can to help people in more desperate circumstances.

"Nobody holds the rights to Secret Santa, and we would love to run into others doing the same in 2012 and beyond," his news release says.

This is the fourth year that Secret Santa has given money away.

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