Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A Small Act of Kindness Ripples Out a Long Way

I volunteer at a class twice a week.  The setting for the class is in a really beautiful big  playground which belongs to a school.  After the class, I was sitting with the other women who teach at the class, we were filling out some paperwork and talking away.  I was looked around over the playground and noticed that there were some beautiful birds.  A few minutes later, I saw the caretaker cycle across the grounds on his way home.  He stopped to feed the birds.  The caretaker himself is not at all a wealthy person, but he regularly leaves nuts and grains on all four corners of the playground for the birds, and a large bowl of water along with that. This is not part of his duties, he simply does it out of love on his way home; after all the school children have left the grounds. Earlier during ... Read Full Story >>

Teaching My Daughter Kindness Towards Her Teacher

One year my daughter had a teacher that many children in the school didn't like very much.  I was also in the school and knew both that children did not like her, but I knew she was a good teacher, although demanding.  My daughter came to me asking that I have her placed in another class saying, "All the kids in school hate her, mom. You've got to get me out of there."  I issued a challenge instead and asked her to find out what would happen if she said something nice to the teacher every day.  I told her she find one compliment even if she might have to stretch it and say, "My you have pretty fingernails today. Or what a lovely belt you have."  She was soon laughing as we came up with more ridiculous things she could say.  She really did take my advice seriously and did give her a ... Read Full Story >>

Filled With a New Sense of Hope

Moving can bring out the best and the worst in people, I'm finding.  They say that uprooting can really test a relationship, so, if that's the case, I think I'm passing with flying colors.  And  I've discovered where a very generous spirit lives: Defiance, Ohio. After suffering through many months of unemployment, my wife and I moved this week from Colorado to Ohio, where she's starting a new job.  Not knowing a soul there, we were pretty concerned about all the work involved, not only loading up our entire home and driving two big rental trucks 1,250 miles, but how we'd get all that stuff unloaded without killing ourselves in the process. We made a connection to hire a couple of college students to help with all the heavy lifting once we got there.  But, to our surprise, one neighbor after another stopped by and pitched in to help.  What!?!?  Have we ... Read Full Story >>

A Simple Outdoor Thank You

I have a friend who has been treating me to breakfast recently, and I wanted to find a way to repay her kindness.  Her treats have been helpful since my husband has been unemployed for months, and money is tight.  I came up with an inexpensive and effective way to let her know how much I appreciate her kindness. 

I called and asked whether she likes egg sandwiches.  Hearing her affirmative enabled me to share my plan: to make English muffin sandwiches with bacon, egg, and cheese, and take her to the park to eat them together.

We had a great time at the park.  I picked her up early on a Saturday morning and brought along my little doggies, whom she loves.  She thoroughly enjoyed eating and being outside in the sunshine, and my two doggies where the icing on the cake.  We walked them all around the park and received a lot of pleasant attention.

I am delighted that I found an inexpensive way to give back to my friend, while also enjoying the experience myself.  In fact, we plan on returning to the park for more fun again in a few weeks.

An Unexpected Gesture Helps Us Find Our Way and Makes Our Day

On a hot summer day, a  friend and I decided to go to the forest for a walk.  We walked around for a while, and then realised that we should probably pay attention to where we're going so we wouldn't get lost.  We noticed a marked trail and remembered that the trail started where we parked our car, so we started following it, only after two hours...we realised we were just looping around, and the part of the trail that was supposed to take us back to the car seemed nowhere to be found! So we diverted from the marked path, in hopes of finding our way back. We found a cycling path and followed it to a parking lot. Sadly it was not our parking lot! A map at that parking lot showed us where all the other parking lots were...and we noticed we were a long way from ... Read Full Story >>

A Perfect Opportunity to Answer a Plea

I was in Houston for a prayer luncheon.  Afterwards, I went to the ministry van to change my clothes before going out into the streets. I changed my clothes and then changed from my cowboy boots into a pair of work boots.  I was standing outside the van when a man came up to me and said “Sir I need some shoes”. I looked at my shiny cowboy boots and the work boots and looked back up to him and handed him the cowboy boots. I reached into the van and got a new pair of socks and asked him whether he had a shirt.  He replied, “no Sir”.  I reached back and got the pants and shirt that I had just changed out of. He started to well up and I said that maybe God has sent me here to help him today. He gave me a long look ... Read Full Story >>

Developing the Intention to Help

Last week, I met a friend who suggested that I do an act of kindness every week and then share the story with him through email.    Of course, like the most of us, I have my own share of helping people and hence I thought this "simple" suggestion would be an easy weekly task.  But I was in for a surprise.   I had made a promise to myself that I wouldn't involve giving a materialistic gift. My friend had said: "It should touch you deeply, it should have a story; otherwise, it's just a material experience".   That struck a chord with me, so I decided to step-it up  :) and looked forward to "doing" the act of kindness. I realized in the next 48 hours that "doing" an act of kindness, an intentional act of kindness, might be simple but letting it happen naturally wasn't as simple.  I found myself giving away my ... Read Full Story >>

A Commitment to the Gift of Food

We have an online dinner calendar where we have a slot for “Empty Nesters”. They are the Sunday School class from ClearView Baptist church which has brought us supper every Thursday night for four years now. That’s a really long time to do something for someone else every week. They invite us to their fellowship functions and to their Sunday School class. And usually at least one member will come to our fundraisers. Though not the leader of the class, Kelvin may be our biggest cheerleader. He comes every month without fail and every month brings a trunk full of groceries for our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. The last few months, as the economy has worsened, we have drawn heavily from Kelvin’s groceries. Last Sunday Kelvin brought us a surprise, even though it wasn’t his week (or day) to bring anything. He said when he brought groceries last time, he had said a little prayer when he ... Read Full Story >>

Learning About Compassion at the Train Station

I was standing platform at the train station, waiting for my train to come. I was in a joyful mood.  All morning, I had been witness to some awesome small acts of kindness :-) My aunt  had packed me a wonderful lunch in a box with napkins and water, (reminding me of going on a picnic :) ) for my journey.  She works in a big finance firm but she still found the time to make me lunch early in the morning. My uncle and cousin had insisted on dropping me off at the station even though that might make them late for work. I was happily waiting for my train, enjoying the scenic station with its old laburnum trees and slow trains puffing along. Thats when I saw an old lady in front of me, accompanied by someone who looked like her daughter. Another lady (maybe her other daughter ) had come to say goodbye to her. I ... Read Full Story >>

A Compassion Connection at the Checkout

I was in the check-out line at a store with two cases of Ramen noodles, one case of Cup of Noodles, one case of bottled water, one pack of plastic spoons, and one box of large zip bags. 

While waiting to put them on the conveyor belt, the man in front of me put his two packs of beer on the counter and looked at the food I had placed on the belt. He asked me if that was all I had to eat and I smiled and shared that it was all for the folks that live in the camp under the freeway and behind the car wash.  He nodded, turned away and didn't look back. 

However, when the food came up to the register, he said, "I want to pay for this food also."  I stretched out my hand to shake his, but he hugged me instead.  I wanted to thank him but he hurried off and when he looked back I could see tears in his eyes. I knew that God had done something special in this man's life.

Flip Flop Kindness For A Colleague

Things at my work are really good these days which is much better than they were last month.  One of my co-workers was giving me the silent treatment but that's all forgotten and forgiven now. This weekend my fiancé took me shopping for my birthday.  We went to several stores.  At one store I found the cutest little flip flop bird house.  The coworker who I have forgiven for the silent treatment (previously mentioned) LOVES flip flops.  I think of her every time I see them.  I just had to pick it up for her.  I wasn't sure when I was going to give it to her (I was flipping back and forth) but in the end I decided to.  "What are you waiting for?" I asked myself, so I gave them to her today. (This is just a random picture.  The one I got is cuter!) She loved it!!!  She said it matches some little outdoor lights ... Read Full Story >>

Honoring A Daughter By Paying-It-Forward

Mandy was the kind of girl I was blessed to have as a daughter, the kind of friend everyone wanted to have, the kind of spirit that radiated joy and happiness when ever she entered a room. Mandy left this world to go be with her Lord on November 15, 2008 in a tragic car accident. Since then, I have tried to live each day of my life living up to her expectations.  I started the Kindness Revolution on Mother's day 2009 and gave out over 100 flowers to random women throughout the weekend along with a card letting them know to pay the kindness forward.   I have given away jewelry, paid for coffee and tolls, paid for groceries, cleaned off car windows trying to spread the kindness and to do as she instructed.   I know that each time I do a kind act, I get back 100 times more than I gave.    The feeling ... Read Full Story >>

An Old Woman's Big Effort to Make a Small Difference

I take the train into work every morning from a train station near my house.  I can get to the station quite easily as there is an alley way at the back of the station which provides a great short cut.  In the summer, when it’s hot, I always try to rush through it because it can get quite smelly sometimes. (I think the heat makes all the rubbish that people throw in the alley way smell bad.)  Today was one of those days that I was trying to rush through as usual when something made me stop for a moment.  I saw the most unexpected and beautiful act by a frail old woman walking ahead of me. The old woman was quite short and thin, she was Asian and she had white hair.  I remember that she was wearing a bright orange jacket and she was walking with the help of a white cane.  ... Read Full Story >>

A Tax Official Goes An Extra Mile

Working at a Bank as I do, one of my hats is being a lending assistant.  Sometimes we do loans for individuals buying vehicles from other individuals.  This is fine other than the fact that titles are a very hard item to "get right".  As happens often in these types of transactions the title was indeed not completed properly.  One thing was wrong.  I received a call from the tax office!  The woman explained what was wrong and offered to send it from the Angleton tax office to the Alvin tax office since she noticed our customer is from that city.  WHAT!?!?!  A county tax office official offering to go the extra mile!?!?!  How NICE!  Normally you would receive the title back along with all of your paperwork with a paper explaining what is wrong along with a hefty late fee.  If was such a nice change of pace to come in ... Read Full Story >>

Drive Thru Kindness

I have a simple kindness idea that I have been trying out recently. 

When I'm going through a drive-thru, I give the person behind the window something small that I hope will make them smile.  A smile button, or a donought or something similar.  Like today when I was at the McDonald's drive though - I gave the person serving me an apple pie.

He was an elderly gentleman and he was certainly surprised.  I think it took him a minute to figure out what was going on as he was in the middle of a very busy day but he was very grateful. 

I'm sure he will remember that for a long time to come, even though it was such a simple gesture ;).

Inspiring Video Dedicated To HelpOthers.org!

I returned from a lovely holiday with my family and sang in a number of different concerts around the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions in New Zealand. It is always such an honour seeing the joy on people's faces. One concert we sang at was at a local rest-home/retirement village.  It was nice to see 100 elderly people so happy after we, "The Short Sistars," had sung.  It was so wonderful to see so many happy faces, all saying they want us to come back and sing again soon. So next Uni holidays the managers have invited us to come and perform again.  When our music fills the air, I love seeing these elderly people, who aren't in the best of health, and the beaming smiles appearing across their faces as if they feel at peace, maybe :) Then spent the second week down in Palmerston North..Visiting my sick Grandma in hospital everyday and looking after ... Read Full Story >>

Sharing a Birthday with a Homeless Friend

I live in a big Scandinavian city that unfortunately has a lot of homeless people. Luckily there are small ways of helping them even though you may not have a lot of money.  One way to help is to buy their monthly magazine. By doing this one day,  I got to know a young homeless man who was often standing at the train station, selling the magazine. He was a refugee from another country and I can only imagine what kind of psychological scars he must have had from living in a war-torn country, escaping it and then ending up being homeless.  After a while, I discovered that his birthday was close to mine which meant that we were born under the same sign of the Zodiac, something we talked about once in a while. I met him last year shortly after his birthday, and without thinking, after congratulating him, I asked if he had had ... Read Full Story >>

One Person Stops to Help Out

We had some guests visit us from East Africa -- a 65-year plus father and his 40-year-old daughter were in Mumbai for the father's heart check up.  When they were returning home from the suburbs, their cab got in an accident that caused the father to hit his forehead on the metal dashboard.  Profuse bleeding ensued, and the daughter, in a state of panic, had no idea what to do.  She gave her father a cloth bag to hold against the bleeding and went hunting for another vehicle to take them to a hospital.  Sadly, the people passing by were busy with their lives and did not come to the aid of our guests. Suddenly, an angel seemed to appear out of no where.  Cassandra, a guest relations co-coordinator at a top hotel in Mumbai, helped them not only find another vehicle to get them to the hospital, but also went with them even though she ... Read Full Story >>

Delivering an Important Document on an Important Day

I was a recipient of a profound act of loving-kindness this morning. I woke up around 8 am to find my dad telling me happily, first thing in the morning,: "Your I-20 visa has finally arrived!" To those who are not familiar with these terms, the I-20 visa is the document I need to proceed with my next degree, without which I would not be allowed to enter the US.  I have been extremely worried recently since I had only two weeks left to receive this important document. "I knew it would come today," my dad and I said at the same time. It was the anniversary of when my grandfather,  a truly beautiful and kind soul, died. In fact, the house was noisy and busy with the rituals done to mark this date. Someone, I don't know who, had come up to the house, and learning from the maid that the rituals were going on, dropped ... Read Full Story >>

Get Well Wishes With A Sweet Treat

Last week, where I live, the property manager, Holly and the fix it man (of sorts), Bill  both went in for surgery. 

I found some get well soon cards and purchased them.  They were on clearance!  I also had a sweet treat for each of them.  Of course I included a SMILE card in each one!!!  = )

I tied Holly's up with a red string and tried to drop it on the counter with no one noticing but I got caught.

Bill's, I tried to slip into the mail while his wife was collecting it from the office.  I accidentally put it in her discard pile.  Thank goodness the cashier caught it and saved it from going in the garbage!!!!

I got "busted" on both but that's ok.  It's not always about being anonymous. 

Smiles...