Stories of Kindness from Around the World

How Helen Helped the Homeless in Paris

Helen lives in Paris and she has seen lots of homeless people living on the streets and sleeping in shop doorways.  On her way to work, Helen passed several men laying on the pavement.  Her heart went out to them.  So Helen went into a nearby coffee house and bought them hot drinks.  She carried them over to the men, some of whom were still sleeping.  She placed the coffee next to them and went back to the shop to buy them breakfast.  She also placed the food by each of them.

Helen walked on to work and upon looking back saw that the men were eating, drinking, and smiling.

Never Cease to Warm Each Other's Hearts

One of my classmates and I were doing our project work late at night on my university's campus.  I had worn a winter jacket to school that day, since there was a rain in the forecase, a raincoat in my bag. Throughout our work on the project, I could see that my friend was tired from a very long day working.  As we stepped outside to begin the long walk home,  I noticed she was shivering.  The temperature had dropped to the low thirties (Fahrenheit) and she only had a sweater on. I immediately offered her my warm jacket, to which she asked me what I would wear then.  I told her I had another jacket and pretended that my raincoat was a jacket.  She said later that she woke up the next morning and the first thing on her mind was feeling moved about my offer of the jacket. Coincidentally, yesterday I ... Read Full Story >>

Grandchildren to the Rescue

While I was away for a brief holiday recently, I had my purse stolen from my handbag.  It contained birthday money  from my grandchildren, a small amount of my own money, and my bank card.  Since my bank card was stolen, I could not withdraw any money from the cash machine.  Being so far from home, I was in a difficult situation.

My family assured me that money was there if i needed it, that they would buy me anything I required.  However, that idea did not go down too well with my grandaughters, as they felt that I should have some spending money.  So they started a collection among themselves to replace the money I had lost, and convinced their parents to chip in as well.

This was entirely the idea of the younger ones, who do not have much money and who had saved up all year for this trip, which was a birthday gift to me from my family.  I feel very blessed to have such loving grandchildren.  I am very proud that they held out a helping hand to me.

Lighting Up A Stranger's Home

One Saturday, I got a phone call about electrical problems. Since I am not an electrician, I quickly realized that the woman on the line had the wrong number. The woman on the phone sounded extremely anxious as her electricity wasn't working.  Her husband tried to replace a wall switch, but now some of their lights wouldn’t turn on, and the heat had shut off. The woman thought she was calling an electrician who has done work for her in the past. I had just recently changed my number and she got me instead. I'm not an electrician but I do work with electricity.   I informed her that she had the wrong number, and I didn’t know what her old electrician changed his number to. She apologized, and we said goodbye. After I hung up the phone I thought maybe I could help her so I dialed *69 and found out she was just one town over.   When I ... Read Full Story >>

The Ripple Effect Reaches Colarado

I spent last weekend with my dear friend from High School. We had our 30 year reunion in Upstate NY. We were so happy to reconnect after a long time. I showed her this site and told her about all of you wonderful deeply kind people who sign on every day and encourage one another. I also told her about some of the things I've done and how easy it is to be 'bitten' by the kindness bug! She called me last night to tell me this story about her daughter.  After we had gotten back from the reunion, her daughter called her from Colorado.  Her daughter teaches at a school for deaf children.  She called to tell my friend about one of her students.  This student was very sick. His daily routine was tough, he has to walk around with oxygen tank, but yet this child is always smiling. My friend's daughter had asked all the children to write down what ... Read Full Story >>

Cable Tied

I take my little, black Reebok rucksack almost everywhere I go.  I use it for shopping or carrying tools.  This summer, I was doing a chore that required a few of those plastic cable-ties that are handy for so many things. Well, for some reason, I kept a few in the front pouch of the bag.  I was sure they would come in handy for something, but for the six months or so they were in there, the ties had yet to present a use.  They would raise a smile every time I went in that pouch for my wallet and came out with a handful of cable-ties, but that was about it. Today, I was out walking and saw a banner laying on the grass by the roadside.  It advertised a help-group for people suffering mental health problems associated with drug abuse. It looked fairly new.  It certainly hadn't been there a ... Read Full Story >>

Beyond The Call Of Duty

The maid at the Kingsgate Hotel off Salam Street in Abu Dhabi had outdone even my mother. Every article of clothing had either been placed on a coat hanger or folded neatly,  even the socks. The disposable razors and washing gels were lined up like toy soldiers, waiting to do battle. I thanked Agnes profusely, gave her a generous tip and went about my day. Late that evening, when I returned from work, a shiny new alarm clock was on the bedside table. As I had occasionally asked the maid for the time of day, I knew right away what had happened. She had used some of the money I had given her – money she certainly needed for herself or her family back home in the Philippines – and bought the clock. As I hope anyone would have done, I told her she was too kind and returned the ... Read Full Story >>

Not Even Stopping To Think About It

My husband is tall and flying back from Scotland today we managed to get seats with lots of leg room.  There are two rows of these seats because they are by the escape exits.  We had just settled down when we heard a voice from behind us ask the air stewardess how you got seat with leg room.  The man asking the question was 6feet, 8inches tall.  He was told it was just luck.

I turned around and asked him, "Are you really stuggling?"  He said he was so I swapped with him. 

The really good thing about it was that this time I did not even have to stop to think about it first.  I just did it.

Turning Tears Into Smiles At The Happiest Place on Earth

I was recently on a vacation to Disney World with some of my friends.  I never expected to find a chance to exercise my kindness muscles. My friends were going on a scary water ride that I did not want to go on.  I waited outside the ride with their camera so that I could take pictures. While I was doing this, I noticed two small children who were alone.  It looked like the older one, about 7, seemed to be searching for something, while the younger boy, around 3, was crying uncontrollably.  I waited for some time, slightly afraid to approach them in case they would be scared by a stranger. After watching this scene for about 10 minutes, I decided that I needed to find out what was the matter.  The older boy explained that they were standing at the exact same spot with their parents just an hour ago and ... Read Full Story >>

Giving a Card That Brings Smiles

   I got my SMILE cards today.  I was thrilled like a kid at Christmas.  I was in the grocery store and had to have the cashier review my order because I knew there were things that were rung up incorrectly.  She appeared to be annoyed and as the line got longer, she got a little more heated.  I was correct about the prices and she corrected them.  When she handed me my receipt, I handed her a SMILE card and thanked her for helping me.  She looked at me funny, but the corners of her mouth curled up in a bit of a smile when she looked at the card.  It was a picture worth a million dollars.  I also gave one to my daughter's friend who I adore, however her father and I have discord between us.  I asked her to pass the card along to her father ... Read Full Story >>

A Helping Hand from a Hitchhiker

Three times a week we have to drive to physical therapy for my husband's hand that was reattached two months ago after a horrible work accident.  It's a 150 mile round trip. Today we were running 30 minutes late but just a few miles into the trip we saw a young man huddled against the strong, cold winds that were almost pushing our car off the road  We stopped and asked if he needed a ride.  He gladly accepted and jumped into the back seat.  His name was Dan and he wasn't going far.  As we dropped him off we noticed he had many large piles of cut wood stacked in his yard so we inquired if he was interested in selling any.  He said, "Oh, you can just come by anytime, even if I'm not here and load up all you want ."  We asked how much it would cost for ... Read Full Story >>

A $100 Sent In The Mail Goes A Long Way

I do my best to save money wherever I can, but I have to admit, recently I have had a bit of a tough time making ends meet.  My husband has stopped paying child support which has made things difficult.  I can only work part time because my full time job is raising my young children.  Some of my close friends are aware of this and have been very supportive.  Not that I am looking for money or anything, but they often ask me if I have received my checks.  I just tell them that I'm sure it is coming and that I'll be okay. I try to save positive because I don't want to my children to know what is going on. Yesterday, I opened my mailbox and as I was going through my mail (mostly bills) I found a hand addressed letter.  It was addressed to me, with the return ... Read Full Story >>

Offering a Friendly Ear to An Old School Friend

This morning I spent almost two hours on the phone, speaking to an old school friend.  We had recently got back in touch with each other through a social networking site.  It turned out that we were both feeling a little down today, each of us having our own private problems.  As the conversation progressed, we ended up telling each other how we felt and generally 'moaning.'  But when it was her turn, I listened, and when it was my turn, she listened.

I think it was something we both really needed, just a friendly ear to listen, someone who wouldn't judge or try to advise.  When we said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone, I felt cheered up, relieved to have gotten things off my chest, and more positive.  I think she felt the same way.

Making time to listen to someone, even if we have a million other things to do, can make a massive difference to how they feel.

The 93 Dollar Club

REDWOOD CITY, CA - Imagine this: on Aug 11 shopper Jenni Ware gets 207 dollars of groceries at Trader Joe’s and realizes only at the checkout line that she has lost her wallet. Carolee Hazard, in line behind the distressed woman, graciously offers to cover the tab! Jenni goes home and sends Carolee a check for 300 dollars, and suggests that her benefactress treat herself to a massage with the leftover cash. Carolee turned to her online Facebook community for advice on what they thought she should do with the 93 dollar gift. The idea Carolee choose was to donate the surplus to a local food bank. Carolee not only sent in the money that Jenni had given her to Second Harvest Food Bank, but matched that amount herself. So did a Facebook friend. And another. And another. Kids have pitched in 93 cents. And since the story has been on Facebook’s ... Read Full Story >>

Going The Extra 200 Miles On Mother's Day

A man stopped at a flower shop to order his mother some flowers for Mother's Day.  He was having the order wired to his mother, who lived two hundred miles away.


As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.  He asked her what was wrong and she replied, "I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother.  But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars."


The man smiled and said, "Come on in with me. I'll buy you a rose."  He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother's flowers.


As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.  She said, "Yes, please! You can take me to my mother."  She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.


The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother's house.

Paying Forward an Umbrella, Thoughtfulness and Generosity

California has a reputation for generally having nice weather.  However, it can really rain hard when it rains in California.  We were broke, my daughter was just a few weeks old, and I got caught in a rain storm.  It rained so hard that the water was over my ankles crossing the street.

A total stranger gave me her umberalla to help keep the baby dry.  About a month later I was walking home from work, it was raining again.  There was a young couple with a baby getting drenched.  I handed them my umberella. They didn't want to take it, but I told them I had a baby at home, and this umberella had been given to me by a stranger to keep my baby dry. I wanted to pass on not only the concern for a small child, but also the thoughtfulness and generosity that was given to me.

An Exercise In Compassion

I sometimes look out of my window with envy at the parade of bicyclists who ride past my apartment each morning on their daily commute into the city. I work from home, and getting exercise outside is not easy for me. Since I moved into this apartment, my bicycle has been in hibernation. I had been longing to get on it, but I have a market almost next door, so I find it difficult getting any riding in. One morning, though, I decided to commute to work just like the cyclists under my window. I planned to bike up the long hill to the bridge and coast back to start my day, a two mile loop. Eager to get out, I filled the rear tire with air, and pushed off into the street. I was so happy to be riding again! Right away, I raced past a bike-commuter, and beat ... Read Full Story >>

One Coconut Please

During the summer break after my first year in college, I  worked part-time at a tourist shop along the ocean front in Hawaii.  One particular day, I had been twiddling my thumbs for a while when a bright eyed, quite pale boy of around ten years old rushed into the store and asked if we sold coconuts.  It took me a moment to recall that yes, we did.  I took him to the the last two coconuts we had and helped him grab one. The little boy was ecstatic.  He explained that he really wanted a coconut from Hawaii and he couldn't find them anywhere before he left.  I was very happy I could help him, I knew personally how seemingly small mementos can mean a lot on trips to far away places.  When he asked how much it was, I told him the price.  The look of sadness on his ... Read Full Story >>

A One-Week Mission To Bring Cheer

There's a woman I work with who is very shy.  She doesn't usually share much about herself so I don't know her very well.  At the beginning of the week, a group of my co-workers and I were gathered around the water fountain.  This woman was there too.  Usually she is fairly quiet, but today she was unloading all her woes.....I listened (without interrupting) while she shared  her  many concerns and life challenges with the group. Some of the group rolled their eyes or tried to change the subject I suspected because they did not want their precious break time spent on someone else's problems. I could tell she was really stressed and disheartened. Even, her appearance spoke volumes - her posture was poor with slumped shoulders, she has deep furrow lines on her forehead, her eyes had no sparkle and she had dark circles. She seemed to be surrounded by ... Read Full Story >>

Letting Go of Preconceived Notions

Earlier this year, I had been shopping and was walking back to my car with my purchases.  Two unkempt men, obviously homeless,  started to approach me.   I had a full cart and was more than nervous, since it was only 7:30 in the morning. As they got nearer, I saw that one of the men had a face covered in bruises and cuts, clearly battered-looking.  As they got nearer, I could smell their breathe and they definately had been drinking. The one with the battered face asked if they could help me load my car.  I wasn't too concerned at that, because they didn't know my 22 pound mastiff was in the vehicle.  I agreed, but warned them about my dog.  They wheeled the cart for me and asked if I had any change I could give them.  They noted it was a chilly morning and they hoped to get a cup ... Read Full Story >>