Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Profound Connection While Shopping For My Father

I was called to go do some shopping for my Father yesterday. I had other plans, but he needed some clothes and a pair of shoes. Things do wear out, but sometimes he gives some of his things away or throws them out as he often doesn’t recognize them as his own. So, off I went to Target. I approached a kind, young woman, who works in the men’s department there and simply explained that I needed to buy some things for my Father, but there was a really good possibility that I would have to return them as he was ill and often doesn't care for new things at all. It was to be the start of a very profound conversation. She said that my Dad sounded a lot like her husband about new things. He was in a rehab center for those with very early onset dementia. I then told ... Read Full Story >>

1813 Reads

Valerie From Home Depot and My Son's Police Car in His Wheelchair

Submitted on LoveWhatMatters website by Aimee Boyle Mcilroy I’d like to send a huge shout out to Valerie, a manager at Home Depot. I came in tonight to pick up a refrigerator box that she was holding for me. We’re using the box to make my son’s wheelchair into a police car for Halloween. I first knew Valerie was awesome when she got down on the floor to cut the box down for me. She had beautiful nails and I told her that they weren’t meant for a box cutter, and she said that her vest meant that she was made for whatever I needed! After getting the box loaded, Valerie helped us brainstorm and find the other items we would need. We trekked all over that store with our Creative Genius. Then, she took us to the checkout and PAID FOR EVERYTHING HERSELF! I tried to refuse, but she just said that it ... Read Full Story >>

2196 Reads

Taking the Time to Go the Extra Mile

❤️From the Love What Matters website:

✨"Our worst nightmare occurred after the Rangers game. The elevator was not working to get us from the street down to Penn Station. Chris is in a 350 lb wheelchair and it is elevator or nothing for him.

I stumbled across this beautiful human being, Officer Mears. He personally walked us around until we found a working elevator in Kmart. Then he escorted us to the LIRR, found out before all commuters what track we were on, brought us down and set up the ramp for Christopher to get on the train before the rush of all the passengers.

Officer Mears told me he worked with the disabled for 6 years before he became a police officer and that is where his heart is. I can't say enough about how wonderful this officer was to my son and I. He essentially moved a mountain for us! I love this man and what he represents of humanity." ✨

Submitted by Monica Ward Scharrer
 

824 Reads

Powerful Truth Found in Very Small Things

Perhaps you'll think this a strange tale. It's true, though I could not believe it at first. Powerful truth is sometimes in small things. No act of kindness and understanding goes unnoticed. It will all come back to you, maybe even tenfold. Many years ago I hated mosquitoes with a passion. I reveled at crushing those little blood suckers. One day  I bragged to my wife, ahead on the trail, that I had just killed 10 of the little swarmer's with one slap. She told me that few bothered her. They regularly didn't. Puzzled about this, I asked, "Why me?" She turned to face me and said, "Because you hate them!" I laughed, "So tell me something I don't know." She explained that the little critters were simply returning my hatred in kind. That stopped me dead in my tracks. Could that be? She suggested that if I sent them loving thoughts ... Read Full Story >>

1734 Reads

Kindess Started By Someone Else

I want to share a kindness act that started with strangers.

My mom's car stopped suddenly on a busy road. She called me, but I was not able to reach her quickly.  When I arrived, she told me that the owner of the restaurant across from where the car stopped gathered his workers and helped to move the car next to the curb so it is safe.

It was a really nice gesture and it was very selfless of them to help. So after sorting things out with my mother's car, I decided to go back to the restaurant and buy dinner from there. But definitely their gesture was a great example of a random act that inspired me to pay it forward.
 

978 Reads

School Books

I saw a blog post by a mum who was wondering how she would cope with the cost of supplying school books for both of her kids this year. One of her boys is a year lower than one of mine, so I wrote and asked for her school's book list. Two books matched so I was able to post the books for two subjects of my son's from the last school year. I posted them addressed to her son, and she's just written to say how much he appreciated the personal post and she appreciated the gift.   ... Read Full Story >>

1114 Reads

Can You Share Some Change?

Recently I found a bunch of foreign currency in my closet I had accumulated after years and years of travel, from over ten countries.

Most of it was spare change and bills, nothing worth more than about five dollars in a single currency. It would have been impractical to exchange such small amounts from so many different sources, so I decided to bring it with me and find people who were going on trips to the places from which I had currency.

It took several weeks to find people with trips matching the currencies I had, but it was so fun to give it to them and invite them to have a cup of coffee with it at their new destination. I couldn’t find anyone going to Mexico anytime soon, so I decided to leave my leftover pesos at a taco stand where I could hear the workers speaking Mexican Spanish. Perhaps they or someone they know will make use of it.

It made me smile to make money flow, in any currency. :-)
 

1153 Reads

Rescuing Children's Books From Dumpster


When some friends and I discovered that a local school had thrown out hundreds of perfectly good children's books, we got into the dumpster and rescued as many as we could. They have been donated to another school that was grateful for the donation.
 

898 Reads

You Keep Me Inspired to be Kind



   




Dropping by to say hello to all of you my KindSpring friends. For some time I was just peeping at your posts and stories to get myself some dose of kindness-vitamins.

Please know that you all inspire me to remember to leave a trail of kindness, a "kindprint "wherever I go... Thank you
 

752 Reads

How Do You Pay for a Car In Front of You?



Found on-line:

"Went to Chick Fil A for lunch today because yum. Landon saw the car in front of us was from Florida (we have been talking about Irma today) and he declared we were paying for their meal and I agreed. But how do you pay for the car in front of you??

You run toward their window with a debit card in hand and scare the mess out of them lol. The man has left his home in Miami and was passing through to go stay with family in Birmingham. I told him we hoped he returned to his house untouched and that we'd keep him in our thoughts. Landon and I both had tears in our eyes from how appreciative he was.

I often feel like I'm failing because I can't do it all, all the time and then things like this happen and remind me that I don't have to. My most important job is going just fine." ❤️

 

655 Reads

We Exchange Heart Gifts

Seth is a vivacious ten year old who loves geology, and biology, bio-chemistry, and most especially rocks. He attends a private school and I have the pleasure of working with him after school twice a month to help him become less anxiously consumed about his frequent stuttering blocks, focusing on rhythmic breathing and prosody strategies.. Last month Seth shared with me his idea of each of us bringing "gifts from our heart" to our therapy session. We then exchange our heart gifts,and talk about why we shared what we did. A great self discovery tool. Today he brought me a heart shaped composite stone from his personal rock pile. I brought a clean paper sack and we collected 7 cactus babies from my Mama cacti for Seth to plant later this week after their calluses form. I am inspired to share this idea, as Seth and I discussed it earlier today at our ... Read Full Story >>

1420 Reads

The Giver Becomes the Receiver

I have not posted much for a while but that does not mean I am not trying to do my kindness bits. It's hard to choose what to share for my 100th story, so decided on an event from last Friday. I was waiting for my train and on the subway station’s floor was a man just sitting there. I thought he was sleeping. I looked around and nobody stopped so I just shrugged and went my way. After a few steps, I turned and asked him if he was okay and if he needed any help. He told me he was ok; his house was one station further and he would only need to take the train there. I offered my help, as I reached for his hand to help him stand. He wanted to take the stairs but I feared he would hurt himself since he seemed too weak to walk, so I asked him ... Read Full Story >>

2323 Reads

A Birthday Dinner Becomes an Opportunity to Practice Patience and Kindness

The other day my daughter and I went out for dinner to celebrate her birthday. We went to a place she loves. The restaurant is on top of a hill and when we arrived the sun was setting behind the mountains. The kind waitress met us at the door but mentioned that, without a reservation, we would have to wait a very long time for our order because they were short staffed. She said that it could be over an hour before we would get our order. Well, we decided that we would leave because she strongly advised that we should! We stood outside wondering what we should do next when the owner came out and insisted that we stay! So we went back in. The waitress was right. We waited close to an hour before we got our appetizers! But do you know what? It was ok because we had tea and ... Read Full Story >>

3493 Reads

This Stranger Overheard Her Roommates and Her in Line and Jumped in to Help

Our daughter Ruth went to university on Saturday. I called her last night about a letter. She was very excited when I spoke to her and asked if I had a few minutes so she could tell me a story. She told me that she and her flatmates had gone shopping at the local supermarket. They were in the queue at the store and were debating whether they had enough money to pay for everything. A nearby gentleman asked if there was a problem. When they told him, he paid for all of their shopping. She said 'Mum we have a fridge and freezer full of food and it didn't cost anything!" It's such a welcome gift and an unexpected surprise isn't it? When we find kindness while not even looking for it! ... Read Full Story >>

1923 Reads
  • Posted by Helenconnell2
  • Nov 2, 2017
  • Comments (9)
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Unexpected Turn in Supermarket Parking Lot

I encountered a very nice act of kindness from another person. I was pulling up to park my car at a supermarket, but I hadn't noticed that across from me there was a car that had been there before me and was ready to park.

I apologized to the man in the car because I didn't see him, but he insisted that I take the parkingParking space levy | Office of State Revenue spot. There was no other parking spot and he waited for one to become available and then he parked. I thanked him and apologized that I hadn't seen him and he was happy to have offered me the parking spot even though he had to wait.

He was very generous and kind. It was such a kind thing to do.

1153 Reads

Hearts are Hearts

 I have grown up in a very open society where men can walk about in shorts and no tee shirt and women can wear bikinis and so it was very unusual for me to see so many veiled Muslim women in the UAE. Some only have their eyes uncovered. Long black Abayas touching the ground and some even wear black gloves. As this is so unusual compared to my westernised upbringing, it's easy to perceive that these females are not approachable and do not want to make contact especially with those who are not 'their own'. Yesterday was Eid, a very important religious celebration for Muslims.  Muslims came to stay in the hotel where I am living. There were about 5 veiled Muslims in the lift with me as I was on my way to my apartment. I approached my door and could not get the electronic key to work. I then noticed ... Read Full Story >>

1603 Reads

Under the Influence

I went grocery shopping with nephew Zach. On this particular trip, Zach was full of kindness ideas. He helped in choosing the store brand (for UPC donation towards charity), suggested we buy a few extra items for our local food bank, he allowed customers behind us in line to go ahead of us, and he bought the cashier her favorite candy and gave to her. Finally, for our environment, he bagged our groceries in own cloth bags:).

As we cooked, we rinsed the empty cans and set them aside for recycling, putting eggshells in our compost bucket.

Teenagers may not say much, but they are very VERY observant! Guiding by example, my friends, and with a little pie:)!

 

712 Reads

Taking the Time to Help

Today was my day to volunteer at the senior center. While in the bathroom, an older lady that I know was washing her hands, while also trying to balance herself and hold onto her cane. She was struggling a bit as she recently had hip surgery.

After she finished washing her hands, I could tell she was trying to navigate the cane, with wet hands to spin around and get to where the automatic towel machine was. So I went to it first, waved my hands so it would spit out the paper towel and then handed it to her. It's such a small thing, but she was grateful. Not a huge thing, but a little bit of kindness for the day!
 

754 Reads
  • Posted by DoulaMelissa
  • Oct 31, 2017
  • Comments (6)
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Harp On This

Not so much smoke here this week so I made it to the nursing home with my harp. A lot of people were asleep that morning. I ended up playing for a sweet elder who was hugging a stuffed dog. She smiled and said yes, she liked harping. She would focus on my hands a lot and stare into space, jiggling her dog and petting him. She didn't sleep but kept looking into space and sometimes would smile at me. I asked her if she liked it. Oh yes. She said she would like it if I came back. I next found my elder gentleman friend in his room. He is the one who usually wants some harp. He keeps his door shut and windows open. His room is peaceful and fresh. As usual, I played for a half hour that flew by. This man always shuts his eyes and drifts. ... Read Full Story >>

1446 Reads

Delightful Encounter

One of our neighbors is helping to collect items for a friend and residents of an island stricken by the recent hurricanes. I was shopping today for items for this as well as for a Boy Scout in our community working on his Eagle Project.

While at the big box store, I became aware of a young mom with her toddler daughter. Mom was very engaged with her child as they shopped. I had to stop her to offer my appreciation for the fact that she was so engaged with her little girl. I know this is the way it should be, but I become so saddened when I see moms texting or talking on their cell phones and completely ignoring their children. I complimented her and told her wee one that she had the best mom ever. Mom said that I made her day, but truly, she made mine.

1013 Reads




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