The town's Santa donated his kidney to a stranger

Dave Bell, known in his town as Santa, lost 40 pounds to qualify and donated a kidney to someone he has never met.

The town Santa gave a stranger his kidney

In Powhatan, a small town in central Virginia, Dave Bell is known as the town Santa.

This summer he gave away something hard to top: one of his kidneys, to a person he has never met.

To qualify for the surgery, Bell had to lose 40 pounds. He did. The operation took place at Henrico Doctors' Hospital — and he recovered wearing his Santa hat.

His explanation is simple: "I have two of these things, and I only need one. There's somebody who has none and they need one."

Bell doesn't know who received the kidney; the donation was anonymous. He didn't pick someone to save. He simply agreed that someone should be saved.

Transplant surgeon Dr. Amanda Bailey says stories like his make donation "real and personal" — they show that it is possible, and that one person can make an enormous difference in someone else's life.

We tend to imagine real kindness as something large and far away. It actually looks like this: a man in a Santa hat who spent months preparing so that a stranger could have an organ.

People like this live near you too — they just rarely make the news. Open the map: one of them might be on your street.

Source: Good News Network, 6 August 2026 (reported by WTVR).