Second-generation Secret Santas offer holiday hope

ST. LOUIS — It's true, Kansas City's beloved Secret Santa, Larry Stewart, passed on to the big sleigh in the sky nearly two years ago, but not before inspiring some proteges.

One of them, along with a Secret Santa-in-training, will be handing out $100 bills to unsuspecting souls in need in the St. Louis area on Friday.

In this economy, they shouldn't be hard to find.

Stewart, Kansas City's original Secret Santa who anonymously plied city streets each December doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they might need a lift, died of cancer at age 58 in January 2007.

But his legacy lives on through his friends and others he inspired.