Stories of Kindness from Around the World

I submited a kindness idea to Helpothers.org $100 kindness contest and I won.  Armed with $100 and a mission - WOW! What an amazing week I just had! It started out last weekend - the first goal was to fill 20 “Smile Baggies” to give out.

I had so much fun all Saturday picking out the items to buy. I'm a single mom of a teenager, so the opportunity to buy something without worrying about whether it would hurt our monthly budget made me feel like I had won the lottery!

I picked out some practical items – a post-it note pad, pen, hand sanitizer wipes, and breath mints. But since it was a “smile baggie”, I also got some fun stuff too – microwave popcorn, hot cocoa, bubble gum, a smile stamp, and a small bottle of bubble bath.

I spent Sunday night bagging all the goodies and attached the following letter to each bag:

"HI! This “Smile Bag” is just for you. I hope it brings a smile to your face. It brought many smiles to my face as I picked them out for you. The Smile Bag was inspired by www.helpothers.org – which is dedicated to small acts of kindness. The idea is to make someone smile, to do something for someone (without expecting anything in return) – making the world a better place – one act of kindness at a time, one community at a time.

The second bag (with the Smile Card) is for you to give a smile to someone else. It could be someone you know - a friend, a co-worker, or a neighbor. Or someone you don’t – like the cashier at the store, the teller at the bank, or the lady that sits next to you on the bus. You will be amazed at how great it feels to bring a smile to someone else.

And I encourage you to keep the spirit a live. Go to www.helpothers.org for ideas, stories, and inspiration. Kindness is contagious!"

Because I wanted to remain anonymous I decided to bring 4 “smile baggies” (2 sets) to work each day (I figured it would be too hard to hide 20 smile bags). Then I set off “planting” them around the hospital I worked at. I left a set in the employee lunchroom near the microwave, in the employee locker room, in the nursing medical supply room, on a cleaning supply cart, in the copy machine room, etc. I woke each morning excited and had fun thinking of where to leave the next smile bag. It felt like Christmas!

Thank you helpothers.org for allowing me to experience such an amazing week. I hope that I was able to make a big splash and that the ripples from this week flow far and wide and never end. WOW!