Stories of Kindness from Around the World

South End Sally

There was a homeless lady who lived in our area. We called her South End Sally.

I had a lot of cans in the back of my pickup and, one day, I saw her at the local grocery store. So, I asked her if she would like to get the cans from my truck and sell them. 

When I came out the store they were all gone. It made me feel good and I am sure it did her also.

Then, one Christmas, I saw her and handed her $5 and she smiled. I asked her name and she said it was Helen. Then i never saw her again. 

I asked about her in the store and it was amazing but it seemed like everyone else was also missing her.

I found out later the police found her laying out in a field and thought she had died. They took her to a care home. It turned out she had family and, I guess, a lot of money. Who knows why she chose to be homeless but I pray she is happy, wherever she is.

I am always happy I chose to be kind to her. Bless you, Helen, wherever you are.

1412 Reads
  • Posted by margepalmer62
  • Oct 6, 2013
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A Cab Filled With Kindness

While reading the New York Times today, I came across a story titled, "Free Sweets in His Cab to Delight and Heal". Mansoor Khalid, a 37 year old electrical engineer from Pakistan has been driving a yellow cab in New York City since 1996. In 2010, his son, Saad, was born with a congenital heart defect. When Mr. Khalid visited him in the hospital after his night shift, he would bring coffee for the doctors and nurses there, who called him “coffee man.” “My average was 20 bucks every night, for coffee and sweets,” he said. Last April, Saad passed away at 18 months old. When Mr. Khalid returned to work, he decided to turn his cab into a "rolling celebration". He spends $300 a month keeping the back dashboard stocked with sweets for his passengers. From his experience in the hospital with his son, Mr. Khalid learned that giving to others could at least hide, if ... Read Full Story >>

8339 Reads

The Extra Bouquet

My mother has been recovering from pneumonia and recent surgery in a nursing care facility. Her room-mate is 93 year old lady who never gets any visitors. 

I brought Mom a yellow tulip bouquet and picked up a bunch of pink roses for her room-mate as well. 

She was to grateful and just couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was there! 

Unfortunately, she ended up going to hospital that night so never really got to enjoy her flowers. Well, after five days, she is back! So, I'm going to bring her a new arrangement this weekend when I visit. 

Ohh, and Dad said Mom LOVED the flowers!

1581 Reads

Colour Coordinated

I have pansies growing in a window box in front of my kitchen window. It gives onto the street, though separated by a little front yard. The pansies are mostly white, purple and yellow.

There is also a bowl out there with something that looks as though it could become a flower soon, and a lot of weeds - I dug it up out of the garden.

Yesterday, somebody anonymously put a pot with a bright red primrose onto the bowl, as though to suggest: Here it goes. I put it in, right there - and it looks great. It adds just the right splash of colour to the gentler mix.

Thank you, kind stranger wherever you are!

1768 Reads

The Christmas Bike Conundrum

The Enzian Art House in Florida was showing movies in the park. One evening, a few weeks before Christmas, they showed The Christmas Story and had a raffle with a girl's bike as the prize.  It was painfully cute with iridescent streamers, flowers, butterflies, an adorable bell, all designed to delight a five year old. But fifty year old me won it! This led to a bit of a conundrum as I didn't have kids or grand-kids to give it to.  I wanted the bike to go to someone who didn't have the opportunity to own such a wonderful thing. I contacted the shelter (where I occasionally volunteered in the kitchen) and while there was a big need for a sweet bike there was also the potential for it creating strife.  I sought else where until I found out about a couple in our church who had been going through hard times in their ... Read Full Story >>

6264 Reads

Reconnecting a young women with her father

Decades ago I ended my relationship with my beloved fiance after another young woman made it her life's goal to have this talented man.  I left but never stopped loving him. We remained close and kept in contact by phone and rare visits until he died many years later. We always loved each other but because the shock of our ending was so traumatic for me I always refused to return to him.  When he died, his friends treated me like his widow which, in a strange way, I was.  Several years ago, I saw a note on the internet asking if anyone knew of him. I replied to it and learned it was from his daughter who had never known him. We eventually spoke on the phone several times. She is a well known singer. (Her father was a brilliant pianist and arranger.) She wanted so much to know why she had never known ... Read Full Story >>

2644 Reads

Candy bars, smile cards and still smiling

Even as I write this story, I am still smiling. The past few weeks have been rather tough, but when a huge set of Smile Cards arrived in my mailbox the other day, having traveled all the way from the United States to my home in the Netherlands, I knew things were about to turn around. I found myself plotting where to leave the cards as I went to bed that night: the train, benches at the station, at work, libraries, mailboxes, the gym - the possibilities felt endless. I woke up, went to work, and afterwards, I went straight to the shop to buy some candy bars, planning to leave them as anonymous gifts for people on the train. However, unlike my early morning commute, my train home was extremely crowded. An elderly man must have seen me searching for a place to leave a Smile Card, because he asked me ... Read Full Story >>

11.0K Reads

Saving A Black Bee

A black bee came into my room while the fan was running. Thinking the little creature might get caught up in it and hurt I switched the fan off.

Then took a towel and used it to help direct the bee outside without hurting it. I felt awesome - and thankful that the idea of switching the fan off and saving the bee had come to me!

1491 Reads

"Because You Are A Giver"

Many winters ago I was working at a community college when a homeless woman came in wearing only a slip on and a hospital bracelet. She started coughing as she laid back on a sofa in the student lounge. Clearly, she wasn't well.  Without thinking too much about it I went to the Student Affairs office where I knew I could find clothes in the "Lost and Found" bin. I gathered her up an entire outfit and made my way back. That's when a co-worker told me I should not help this person, as it would only lead to her wanting more help. I ignored her and carried on, despite the warnings. Two weeks later a lovely elderly man came to my office and asked to speak with me in private. Curious, I gave him my full attention. He proceeded to tell me that he had overheard the conversation with the co-worker ... Read Full Story >>

8149 Reads

For Alan The Organizer

A couple of years ago, my grandmother died.  She was my last remaining grandparent and we'd been close when she was alive. I'd lived with her for a while during my early teens. She probably taught me more about unconditional love than anyone before or since. So as you can imagine, although I couldn't begrudge her passing (she'd been unwell and in pain for a long time and at least that was over) of course I missed her terribly. My friend, Alan, realized that I was taking this loss harder than any loss before and that I was struggling. Unknown to me, he got in touch with several of my friends and told them I was having a hard time. For the next couple of weeks the postman delivered something to me every day; small tokens from each of my friends to let me know they cared, timed so that I would ... Read Full Story >>

1480 Reads

A Gift for a Sleeping Stranger at the Airport

I have always lived in India, and was recently traveling from Mumbai to Jaipur for work. Arriving at the airport early, I was asked to hang out in the waiting lounge where, without much else to do, I decided to check out the gift shop. As I walked around the store, I saw two American women having a nap on a recliner outside. It looked as if they had been at the airport for hours, and I felt compelled to do something to help ease their wait. I looked around the store for a few moments, and ended up purchasing a medium-sized stuffed toy which looked like the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants (though it was orange instead of the normal yellow). I asked the owner of the shop for a note and a pen and wrote, "When you get up if this makes you smile, it would mean the world to ... Read Full Story >>

7330 Reads

Always Remember Those Who Serve

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" the child asked. "Fifty cents," replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it. "How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient. "Thirt-five cents," she said brusquely. The little boy again counted the coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed. When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at ... Read Full Story >>

9203 Reads

The Road To Acts Of Kindness

More than a week ago I decided to do something that I called "A Smile Card a Day Makes the World a Better Place".  I've been doing an act of kindness every single day and giving away Smile Cards with it. Yesterday on my way back home from school I stopped at a restaurant that I always go to. It was almost 10pm and that's when the close. I ordered some takeway food and sat and waited for it to be ready. The girl that took my order was mopping the floor and singing and I have to say she had a very beautiful voice. I started talking to her and told her how beautiful her voice was and I gave her a Smile Card. She loved how the card says 'Smile' on it because another customer calls her "Smiley". I then told her the rules of the Smile Card and she ... Read Full Story >>

4509 Reads

Festival Sweets For Strangers

This Diwali, I planned to celebrate the festival by doing some kind acts. I emailed few colleagues to join me however all were busy with festival celebration. I also had enough work and a meeting got scheduled on the Diwali day itself hence i had to visit office. I was thinking it won't be possible but then I got an idea of distributing sweets right near office. Looked like a good idea but I had not made any full fledged plans. When I reached office I already started feeling bad for security and kitchen staff who were working on holiday, so they got tagged. Around lunch time, I wanted to go and purchase sweets when I thought of buying pizza for lunch, along with giving sweets to pizza hut workers, who were also at work on holiday. This was pretty exciting as young boys n girls work at pizza hut and i was ... Read Full Story >>

2670 Reads

Giving treats away at McDonalds

I was at McDonalds the other day and was trying to decide what snack to get to tide me till I rode the 2 bus home.

There was a young lady looking at the menu but just got a small soda. I decided to help and got 2 breakfast burritos for one dollar each and 2 apple pies which are 2 for a dollar. I shared a burrito and pie with her and you would have thought it was the best meal of all time.

She was happy and I was too. I was able to share a meal with someone . I told her I never like to eat alone and was happy for the company. Who knows maybe I will see her there again some day.

Found out she had lost her job and didn't have much money for food . I told her to go to my church and they would help her with some groceries to help out. So I know she will have something else to eat later on that day too. Its a blessing to help someone in need.

2149 Reads

I Believe In You

I wanted to say that I believe in every single one of you! 

I think that you should all strive for your goals, however big or small, however unlikely they may seem to be. I have confidence in you all and I hope you become the person you aspire to be, whether that be intellectually, spiritually, physically, mentally, professionally, or all of the above. Go for it! 

When you feel like giving up know that I am your cheerleader (or part of your cheerleading squad.) 

If you feel like you have failed take a deep breath, sleep on it maybe, brush yourself off and start again. 

If there are people out there who tell you that you can't do it, prove that you can, because I know you can! YOU CAN DO IT!

Big hugs!
 

1735 Reads

"Extra Extra" - Passing on the Good News

Today in western New York, The Buffalo News teamed up with The Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo to raise funds for the medical care of children. People took to the street to sell newspapers for a dollar each, with the proceeds all going to benefit the hospital. As I was driving along, I came to a stop and was approached by a woman who asked if I would be interested in a paper. I felt awful - I had no cash or change on me and told her sadly, "I don't have a dollar!" She smiled and replied kindly, "Don't worry about it! The car ahead of you just gave me $5.00. That's five papers paid for, so enjoy!" At first I told her I couldn't accept, but she insisted. I thanked her and gave what I could: my blessings, for her as well as for the person in front of me who had ... Read Full Story >>

1558 Reads

A Pretty Mission

I make it a point, if I see them, to go up and compliment teenage girls or young women. I might tell her how pretty her hair is, or how much I like her dress, or just how pretty she is. I'm usually old enough to be their grandmother so I'm never misunderstood when I do this.   I remember how insecure I was when I was their age and how much it would have meant to me to have an older woman tell me something like that and know it was said with no ulterior motive. And I see this same insecurity in young girls today. It's so hard for us to believe that we're pretty for any number of reasons.   I was looking through an old photo album with my husband and he said how pretty I was back then and I could see it now, looking back, but I couldn't ... Read Full Story >>

2342 Reads

Thank You, Co-conspirator In Kindness

One of my favorite parts of using smile cards is when other people agree to be my accomplice in our little kindness conspiracy. Some folks look at you weird when you ask for such an unusual favor, you know? :) Like once I asked a toll booth operator if I could pay for the car behind me, and I got a blank stare. After a brief explanation, he hesitantly agreed, but then said it was too complicated when I presented a smile card with the double payment. Okay, next time. So, it's nice when folks "get it" :) and even feel like they're receiving a favor in agreeing to do me a favor.  At a barbershop recently, after getting my haircut, I went to the counter to pay. My barber said, "That'll be twenty dollars please." I saw in my wallet I had exactly forty-two dollars. "Okay, tell me if you think this ... Read Full Story >>

6528 Reads

A Party and an Opportunity to be Generous

We usually have a Christmas get together right before the holidays for our friends, family and neighbors.  Instead of folks bringing gifts or food for us we usually ask for some item for someone in need.  Usually something like hats/gloves/scarves for senior citizens, food donations for a family in hard times, toys/stuffed animals for local charity.  It always is fun and everyone has a good time sharing.  This past Christmas, on the day of my party I was very sick and ended up in the hospital so sadly I had to cancel the party.  Since everyone was disappointed I decided to have it around Valentine's day instead.  We asked for adult socks for a non-profit which helps families in need, they said they have lots of children's socks but people forget the teenagers and adults.  I also asked for reading glasses for our local library so those who need glasses or forget ... Read Full Story >>

3821 Reads




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