Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Last Sunday, I walked into the house in the afternoon to find my brother scurrying around in a hurry.  As soon I had taken my coat off, he placed a bunch of papers in my hands and asked if I could start folding them up (so they could fit into an envelope) as quickly as possible.  He said it needed to get done quickly before it turned dark. 

I assumed it was probably something for his business and just got right to it, although I was a little surprised that something could be so urgent on a Sunday.  It wasn’t until I was halfway through that I actually looked at what I was folding – and when I did – it put the biggest smile on my face!  It was a lovely letter to all the residents of my street and the nearby streets in my neighbourhood. My brother was asking everyone to let him know if anyone needed helping get food, medicine or any other necessities.  He left his contact information on there and said that anyone that needed help should get in touch with him and he would figure something out.  He also asked people to get in touch if they were able to help out and he would co-ordinate it.

By way of background, London received an unusual amount of snow last week and the city was completely underprepared for it.  As a result it made it quite difficult to get anywhere, only the major roads had been cleared, so smaller roads and pavements etc. could be quite treacherous.  There are a good number of old people (and young families) in our little community and my brother thought that the snow may have posed some difficultly for some of them, particularly because we live on a hill.

He had a few elderly people get in touch asking for help for things they needed.  One of them was especially appreciative because his carer couldn't make it.  To our surprise, he got way more responses from people offering to help then he did from the people who wanted to help.  Everyone was really touched by his gesture and wrote wonderful emails.  One of our neighbours (who we don’t know) wrote an email to him saying that although she wasn’t able to help, she was “very proud of having a neighbour like [him] who puts other people's interests first.”

I love living on this street which has such a wonderful sense of community!