Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A Random Act of Encouragement

I got an idea, from a magazine about leaving notes of kindness for people.

I now leave notes that say things like:

" You are loved" or "You are stronger than you think"

Or any other positive sayings.

I leave the notes in places like the restroom at my work etc. I also say a silent prayer for whoever might see the note.

Taking the Extra Step to 'Pay-it-Forward'

I wanted to do a random act of kindness for my friend’s birthday, so on Friday I went to Walmart to carry out my gift to her because I think people who shop there do so to save money and could use a gift. My gift in honor of her birthday is a birthday cake!  I selected a cupcake birthday cake for which the recipient of the gift can pick any design they wish. My plan is for the next person who walks up to the bakery counter to purchase a cake to be told that someone has anonymously paid for their cake, and for them to then receive the receipt along with my handwritten message explaining the gift along with a Smile Card attached. It took some doing/convincing!  I had to speak to 2 members of the management and make 2 trips to the store.  I was turned down the first time ... Read Full Story >>

A Garland of Smiles

There are many occasions for giving flower leis, but instead of using flowers, I usually make whimsical leis with objects I’ve found.

I’ve used fabric remnants, colourful scraps of paper and plastic, old keys, bottle caps, beads, or any other small items that have been discarded.

I get great joy from gifting my creations to friends and strangers.

The other day, I found some tiny baby eggplants at the market and I strung them together with my usual scraps and remnants and gave the eggplant lei to a friend.  We had a great laugh about it.  He then sautéed the eggplants with lots of onions and garlic and we ended up with a delicious lei lunch.  I plan to experiment with making edible leis from now, using small fruits like baby carrots, grapes and mint leaves. 

How much fun will that be to give those away?! :)

Inspired by Kindness at the Toll Station

Has this ever happened to you? You pull up at a toll booth (in the cash only lane!) to pay for your toll and the attendant tells you that your toll has already been paid for by someone in the car in front of you!  I am happy to say that I've had this happen to me a few times - each time I sit there somewhat dumbfounded!

Today the thought hit me that toll booths are a great opportunity to use Smile Cards!  Next time your on the turnpike or the autobahn, take your smile cards with you.  When you pull up to the toll booth pay for your toll and the person behind you.  Give the attendant two smile cards - one for the attendant to spread some good, the other for the attendant to hand to the person in the car behind so that they too might have the opportunity to continue pay this act of kindness forward.

I'm going to try it the next time I go thru the toll booth just to see it in action - I'll report back!

The Fun of Giving Free Flowers

I recently celebrated a new kindness holiday: "Give Flowers to a Stranger Day." It's a monthly holiday that a fellow kindness blogger started a few months ago. I didn't let the fact that I'm on a tight budget stop me. I printed off a free note card I found online, wrote a little message on back explaining it was a RAOK (random act of kindness) and taped it to two simple white flowers I bought. Then I gave them to a mother with a young child coming out of the store. It was so much fun doing this RAOK to a total stranger- I can't wait to do it again next month!

You can read more & see pictures on my blog post about it: www.smilelaughloveblog.com/2010/08/flowers-for-stranger.html

Lunch For Two Hundred Orphans

I was part of a group of students who organized lunch at Sphoorti Foundation and Thara Ashram a few months back. We had a great time with the kids at those places. 

Tour Guide For A Day

My collegues at work are from Hong Kong and don't know anything about Oman where we are based. I was born there!

Giving A Smile Card Made Me Smile!

Team Mattie

A friend's son was diagnosed with cancer two years ago.  Some of the parents at the school where he was enrolled formed a support team headed by the wife of one of the physicians on the case. E-mails were sent out asking for people to volunteer to bring meals to the hospital for them. More people volunteered than there were slots available.    A call went out to send things that might be interesting and helpful to get him to participate in his therapies (chemo and physical) and boxes arrived almost daily, including some from South America and military locations in the US and elsewhere.    His Mom started a blog about his treatment and virtually every time she described something Mattie needed, someone stepped up to help.    He fought bravely but lost the battle almost a year ago. His mom says they would not have made it though without the support of "Team Mattie," those ... Read Full Story >>

Hooked On HelpOthers

Okay, I have a confession to make - and it's all the fault of you guys on this site!   I was on a flight earlier this week. It was a business trip so I was flying alone. I was last on the plane and when I got to my seat a mother was in the row with two kids, one of whom was in my seat. She asked if it was okay and of course it was okay! So I ended up sitting in another row in the aisle seat instead of my selected window seat, but it would have been a bad person who asked the kid to sit alone while I sat with his brother and mother!   So I ended up sitting behind another kid and, I am guessing, his father. All was good and the flight passed without incident.   When we landed the kid in front of me was fast ... Read Full Story >>

Moved by a Meaningful Act of Kindness

Our extended family had spent a beautiful vacation together last summer. I had rented a beach house from a woman and before we left, we all signed the guest book thanking her.   Well, it turned out to be the last time the whole family was together.  My father in law passed away this May rather suddenly.  One of my sisters-in-law asked me some time ago if I could write to the woman whose house we stayed in and ask if she could send us a photocopy of our "guestbook" comments.  She said she had never gotten to read what her father wrote. I wrote a letter to the woman and didn't think about it afterwards. You won't believe it - today a package arrived in the mail and not only did this angel make copies of our comments for all the siblings, she framed the original page with just my father ... Read Full Story >>

A Birthday Kindness Challenge

I had a ‘eureka’ moment today.  It was an idea for celebrating my birthday month :). I’ve decided to do 1 act of kindness for each year of life.  Oops, I’ve just assigned myself to a whopping .... number of  acts of kindness during this month! I started my mission to do my whooping number of acts of kindness today.    I visited an old friend (over 80 years old) and spent some time with her. I took her recycling (I also had some of my own in the car) to the recycling site where I had to wait more than half an hour. I noticed that one of the people working at the site went from car to car explaining the delay and also let us know when we could go and dump our stuff, and then at the end he said “thank you” to everyone. Of course I could not let this ... Read Full Story >>

Lillies And Baby Breath For A Stranger

Yesterday, after finding this site, I enrolled in HelpOthers!   Some really great stories got my own creative juices flowing. Living near a hospital, I decided to give flowers to one of the elderly people I often see there.     I hopped on my bicycle and did not let the hesitancy I felt overcome me. I was going to do this - period!     There she was, an elderly woman in a wheel chair with a man sitting beside her on the low stone wall around side of the hospital building. I zipped on over to a flower stall in the nearby market and bought a bunch of pink lilies and some baby breath. The kind lady wrapped  them up and off I went.     The elderly couple were still there when I got back. But they looked like they might be about to leave.    I approached them. The woman, with her gray hair cut ... Read Full Story >>

Smiles At The Walking Track

I like to exercise on the walking track near my house and I purposely walk into the "traffic." You see, people usually go in the same direction as everyone else. But not me!

A Random Act of Recycling

Last Saturday when I was in the car with my children, I realized that I hadn't made time to do out usual recycling, and our water bottles had been piling up (in our car actually!).  We were going to be driving past the recycling station at the corner grocery store and as we approached it, I took in the long line of people, bags in hand, waiting their turn to cash in for a few bucks and some change.  I thought about the times I've waited in that line, not always just for a little extra cash or purely to help the environment - but sometimes simply because I actually needed to buy milk or bread didn't have the money. I made a last minute decision and pulled into the parking lot.  I jumped out of the car and grabbed the few bags of plastic bottles that I had in the back of the car.  ... Read Full Story >>

12 Caring Women

One year ago twelve friends got together and formed a group. We call ourselves “12 Caring Women".   

I Matter - And So Do You!

As I was standing in line at the coffee shop I dropped something out of my purse without realizing it. The lady behind me bent down, picked it up, and handed it to me.

Two Lost Ladies

One day my kids and I left our apartment to do laundry. A white car with two little old ladies in it pulled up next to us. They asked how to get to I-79 and I started wondering how they had got so far from the Interstate.

Little Words Of Encouragement Go a Long Way

I love giving, and I often slip smile cards here and there, and I'm not usually on the receiving end, and even though this kind act was so little, it meant a lot to me.

I was on Facebook yesterday and one of my "friends" popped up on chat, saying that they love how they can always see God's love shining through me and I am beautiful inside and out.

I was speechless.

This little word of encouragement just made my day. It made me realize that I need to encourage others more, and I encourage YOU to do the same :)

His First Word Was, "Smile!"

So right now I'm in Argentina and I gave away a couple of Smile cards. Some people didn't know what 'smile' meant because they mostly speak Spanish here.