Ah, it’s the season of giving. And Bill Gates just gave one Redditor the gift of her life.
Gates has made an annual tradition of participating in Reddit’s global Secret Santa program. And this year, his gift made Redditor NayaTheNinja take to write the post, “I Win. No, seriously, I win Secret Santa. This is why…”
NayaTheNinja, an avid hiker and camper who is also a “swim coach from the Northwest,” definitely received some great gifts — camping gear, a map of Mount Rainier and a travel journal, but it was one part of the gift that was particularly meaningful to her:
“Last year I had the opportunity to visit a friend finishing up her Peace Corps service in Zambia. I spent a few days in her rural village with her and then we traveled around for a few weeks. Because I prefer to talk to locals rather than spend all my time traveling with other tourists, we did a lot of chatting with people. A topic that came up more frequently than one might like if they were looking to keep the conversation light and cheerful is the prevalence of malaria…
“I bring all this up because my Santa gave me the amazing gift of a donation in my name to an organization called Malaria No More which is dedicated to wiping out malaria. They provide prevention, treatment, and research towards more permanent solutions (namely vaccines). It is very cool. I also received some very cool stuff (like seriously rad stuff) but it is, in the end, stuff and the donation will help create a lasting effect on people other than myself.”
NayaTheNinja didn’t reveal who her Secret Santa was in her blog post, but if you scroll through the photos attached, you’ll see Gates’ picture which was sent with the package.
In his note, he wrote: “You and I have something in common. We both hate mosquitoes!”
“One of my Secret Santa presents to you is a donation in your name to Malaria No More,” he continued, “because no child should ever die from a mosquito bite.”
Redditors’ comments were beyond positive, including this one from Bossman1086: “It amazes me that not only does Bill Gates do this every year, but he takes the time to really learn about the person he’s gifting to. It’s always great to see what he does for his giftee.”
More than 120,000 people from over 150 countries participated this year, but Gates might be the best Secret Santa of them all.
Check out more stats from Reddit on this year’s exchange below:
