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Idaho ‘Secret Santa’ changes lives, grants single mother’s final wish and helps family after ‘devastating’ fire

November 25, 2023 | | Print Article

Idaho’s Secret Santa is again spreading Christmas joy, this time making the dying wishes of a single mom come true.

According to East Idaho News’s Nate Eaton, “Sara Illum was a wonderful woman.”

“She was extremely family oriented and her pride and joy was her boys, Jalen and Kaden,” Eaton wrote. “She was a single mother whose whole world revolved around them. Sara raised them to be kind, respectful, thoughtful, and extremely hard-working. One thing she always wanted was for Kaden to get his college degree.”

Last February, Sara, 47, was involved in a tragic accident that took her life.

Kaden, just one year away from graduation from Idaho State University, had to take a break from school.

“Kaden works 4 to 5 nights a week at the Sandpiper Restaurant in Idaho Falls to help him pay for his last year of school,” Eaton wrote. “He often brings his school work with him and digs into it before and after his shift.”

“Sara’s wish,” he explained, “was to proudly see her son walk across the stage and receive his mechanical engineering degree.”

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Enter Secret Santa — a generous “native Idahoan who lives in eastern Idaho” Eaton, a designated elf, reported in October.

“The money comes directly from him – not a program, organization, charity or trust fund,” Eaton confirmed.

The anonymous good Samaritan donated $1 million to Idahoans in need this month alone, Breitbart reports.

It’s a tradition the Secret Santa has kept up for years. In 2015, Eaton “surprised a school secretary with $10,000 from Secret Santa.”

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All nominations for Secret Santa’s help must come from someone else, Eaton wrote in October. They can only be submitted through East Idaho News’s website, and “Every nomination form is read.”

“The most important thing to remember is the nominee must have a legitimate need,” according to Eaton. “Almost everyone would enjoy money or a car – but we need to know why someone needs it.”

“Secret Santa looks for responsible and deserving people who have done everything in their power to care for themselves but ill fortune or unfortunate situations have put them at a significant disadvantage,” he wrote. “Secret Santa has provided washers and dryers, furniture, special computers, dental care, diapers, gas and grocery cards and other items.”

And it was Eaton who delivered Secret Santa’s gift for Kaden.

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(Video: YouTube)

“Secret Santa wants to help him achieve his dream of becoming a mechanical engineer, and so here’s what we have for Mr. Kaden,” Eaton told viewers. “Secret Santa is paying for the next two semesters of school. His last two semesters, they’re paid for.”

“Not only that,” he continued, “he gets $1,000 for each of those semesters for books and other expenses that he might have at the university, and supplies. And then we have a check for $2,000 to help him as he commutes back and forth to school and with other expenses.”

Eaton surprised Kaden just as the restaurant was opening.

“Oh my God … thank you very much,” the stunned young man said. “Oh my God, thank you so so much!”

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And Kaden wasn’t the only one to receive a surprise from Secret Santa this year.

Below, find more of Santa’s beautiful deeds:

Melissa Fine
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