Avery County, North Carolina — Some people were skeptical, at first, of the stranger who rolled into flood-ravaged Avery County in western North Carolina this week claiming to be some kind of Santa.

Yet, he persisted, approaching people in parking lots, grocery stores, and even motel rooms, where those displaced by Hurricane Helene are still sheltering three months after the devastating storm.

Every year, this anonymous, wealthy businessman travels the country during the holidays giving away about $100,000 in $100 bills.

The money goes to random strangers and people he seeks out, knowing their need. Why did this Secret Santa want to come to North Carolina?

“I think when people go through tragedy, they can lose their house — all their belongings,” he told CBS News. “But what they can’t lose is hope. And maybe we can give a little hope.”

Among those he sought out was Jamie Guinn. During the height of Helene, a mudslide ripped the garage off the Avery County home Guinn lived in with his wife, Melissa.

“I grabbed ahold of her and I said, ‘At least we got each other,'” Jamie told CBS News. “‘We can fix the house.’ And it couldn’t have been 10 minutes later, and I remember just getting crushed.”

A second mudslide took the whole house and claimed Melissa’s life.

“You haven’t really lost her because she’s with you and she’s smiling down on you right now,” Secret Santa told Guinn.

It’s those words of comfort — the hugs and the hope from a total stranger — that really seem to move people, much more than the money itself.

“That’s the gift, that you haven’t been forgotten about, that we do know you’re there,” the Secret Santa said. “And we do care.”

Secret Santa always says that kindness is the bridge between all people – a bridge that cannot be burned, bombed or washed away in a flood. It’s always there, just waiting for us to cross.