Glenn Beck Pays off $27,000 Worth of Layaway Balances at Texas Walmart

Glenn Beck, conservative commentator and founder of TheBlaze, walked into a Texas Walmart on Saturday and in the spirit of the Christmas holidays paid off $27,000 worth of layaway balances.

Beck, who was at the store with his children and wife Tania, live-streamed their trip to the North Richland Hills Walmart to pay off customers’ layaway balances that were set to come due on Monday.

“We were really inspired by [actor] Tyler Perry and what he did at the Walmart in Atlanta,” Beck said in the video, “so we’re going to buy everything in layaway as well for everybody who has put anything in layaway.”

Perry paid off $434,000 in layaway balances for 1,500 shoppers at an Atlanta Walmart on December 6. That act of generosity led singer Kid Rock to do the same at a Nashville Walmart, where he paid off $81,000 in balances.

In the video, Beck challenged Bill O’Reilly, Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, and others to follow Perry’s lead.

Tania said the Beck family decided to stop at Walmart on their way to a Christmas party at their church. “We’re hoping to get this done here and bless the lives of just some people who need some extra help,” she said. “We’re excited and blessed to do it.”

Glenn said that earlier in the day his church family had been at the store shopping for gifts for a battered women’s shelter they support.

When the family arrived at the layaway desk, Glenn handed his credit card over to Walmart employees and was told that the payments would have to be processed individually.

“I think we’re going to be here a while,” he quipped.

Two hours later Glenn was still at the layaway desk finishing up the payments. A Walmart employee was on the phone telling a tearful recipient about the Becks’ generosity. “I’m serious, somebody paid it,” the employee said.

A Walmart spokeswoman told The Dallas Morning News that Beck paid off $27,000 in layaway balances. On his radio program Monday, Beck said that that balances ranged from $24 to $500.

Tania challenged others to join the Beck family in paying off balances. “If you even have $25 that you can give to layaway to help someone out we encourage you to do that,” she said. “You could do it as a family, you could do it as an office —  get your office staff together and collect whatever you can collect and bless the life of somebody.”

In the comments below the video, Beck’s followers thanked him for his generosity toward his neighbors — and some even said they had followed the conservative pundit’s lead.

“Sean Hannity, Rush… everybody do what you can,” Glenn said. “And thank you, thank you, thank you, Tyler Perry, for giving us the inspiration for it.”

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