A group of kind-hearted donors have given hard-up residents some much-needed early Christmas cheer after offering to pay off their debts with a store.The small group, who asked to remain anonymous, called up the Phoenix Stores yesterday morning and pledged to pay off the outstanding balance of all layaways with the Annex Toys.A layaway is a payment plan where a buyer reserves an piece of merchandise by putting down a deposit until the balance is paid in full, typically on a weekly or monthly basis.There have been a number of cases in the US of generous donors paying off the layaway accounts of strangers, buying the toys and games set aside by impoverished parents for their children.The phenomenon began at Kmart stores across the country and the trend has spread to Wal-Mart and other retailers.George Grundmuller, president and CEO of the Phoenix Stores, said: “They just wanted to do something nice.“They felt that people were going through some hard times at the moment and really struggling they wanted to give something back to the community.”Mr Grundmuller said that he was unable to reveal the number of accounts which had been settled or the amount paid off at the request of the donors.“I think that people generally don’t have as much money as they used to have, which is why we have been offering big discounts such as at our Black Friday event which seemed to have been well-received,” he said.“But what is great to see is that there are Bermudians out there who truly care and through their generous giving show what good spirit there is in the community particularly during the festive season.“Hopefully this will inspire others to do similar acts of generosity.”