Acts of kindness

Sally_A

Have got to keep this on page one - hence this post.

Am loving the stories.

scaredy_cat

bumping cos i think we need the feel good factor!

MatyMoo

When I was in Glasgow last week we needed a shop and there was on street pay and display parking. When I went to the machine to pay there was a ticket stuck on it with an hour still to go so I used that for the 10 minutes I needed and stuck it back on the machine when I had finished so someone else could use it.

What a great thing to do :T

azkaban420

Lovely thread which has prompted me to do my little bit. I try to help out wherever I can, but sometimes some people need a little bit extra. I've been meaning to clearout my garage as I've been one of the fortunate ones to finally move into the house of my dreams after a nightmare move. We had lots of stuff we were hoping to ebay, as every penny helps towards our debts. Anyway, after reading this thread I thought 'forget the money, help someone instead' so I put a sign on freecycle yesterday for a whole bunch of stuff (some I was intending to keep for later) but bedroom furniture; beds, desk, kitchen items, bags of clothes, shoes, and all sorts of other interesting stuff that we had no more need/use for.

On freecycle I specified I wanted the whole lot to go to someone who really needed it, especially someone perhaps starting out. I was inundated with emails within minutes and saw one from a couple who had four kids. They'd come back from a camping holiday four weeks ago and saw their house burn down to ashes in front of them due to a fire starting next door to them. They lost everything and only had the clothes on their backs and in the car. The family's story really struck a chord as a flat I owned also suffered from severe fire damage. I called him and told him to come round.

He was so humble and grateful, I gave him everything I could: Furniture, clothes, nick nacks, books, toys, even stuff I didn't even think about initially, and also a box of foods, bottle of wine for the parents, chocs for the kids etc. The look on his face was priceless. He took everything home there and then in four MPV trips. Felt so good to be doing something for a real cause, and my halo is now well and truly shining :A

Az

azkaban420

purpleweasel wrote: »

How nice - the complete opposite of "naming & shaming"! We ought to think of a phrase for it too!

How about naming and faming

Az

money_honey

I love this thread It's really cheered me up today - I was having a bit of a 'feeling sorry for myself' day, DD has been playing up, I'm ill and 8 months pregnant and to top it all off found out I have gestational diabetes which has led to a lot of worrying about the baby. Anyway this thread was just what I needed, so thank you to everyone who's posted - you've all done a random act of kindness by telling your stories which have cheered me up no end :T

I try to do random acts of kindness when I can - holding doors open, giving people car park tickets, handing in money and wallets when I've found them and I always stop to chat to our Big Issue sellers and give them extra money. I've found for me it's the little things that do make a difference, like giving someone a hug or just letting them know you're there for them. The week before last I texted an old friend of mine to say that it would be nice to meet up soon as we hadn't seen each other for a long time, and after a few days I got a reply saying that she had been suffering from bad depression and had shut herself away from everyone as she felt she couldn't cope, and only now was getting the strength to be able to start getting back in contact with people again. As you can imagine I felt really bad that I hadn't been aware of her problems and I wasn't sure what the best thing to do would be (as she obviously still wasn't up for a visit etc). In the end I got her a card in which I wrote that I was thinking of her and posted it through her letterbox along with some chocs and a mini beauty treatment. She sent me a long message saying that it had meant a lot to her and she was so glad to see that people cared. To me it was a small gesture to show her I was thinking of her, but the small things can make the biggest difference.

I hope to have lots more chances to do acts of kindness for people. Of course there are people who don't show their thanks, but many who do and I've had lots of times where people have given up seats for me when I'm pregnant, carried DD's buggy down steps when I've been struggling to bump it down and my DH is great at giving me a hug just when I need it most!

Mr_Max

I've worked as an Oxfam Steward at both Reading and Glastonbury festivals, so I have an idea what it's like to be one: lots of standing, not the most fun work while you make sure that tens of thousands of ungrateful people file past you to enjoy themselves, mostly with indifference to you and sometimes with utter distain.

So this year at Reading Festival (my first as a paying punter instead of a steward in years) I decided to bring a few big bags of Haribo for the guys on the gate to share between them. It cost me, what, a few quid, but the look of gratitude on their faces made it worth far more than that.

Sally_A

I tried to do a good deed today, but feel I failed .

I was walking back to my car along a residential street where people in our office park, and a little old lady (a feisty bird, but I know is struggling with bills as we frequently have a little chat) had 2 young girls touting for charity contributions at her door, as I walked past her door, I stopped for a moment to acknowledge her, and give her the chance to give me the "Help Me!" eyebrow wiggle - it never came. The girls were not being forceful, but lets just say they were using persuasive chat. I think I heard WRPB mentioned, or WPRB....as I walked by I just took it to be RSPB.

I won't be passing her door again until next Tuesday or Thursday - do you think I should poke my beak in, and if she has signed anything apart from cancelling any DDM how I can I help further?

I don't mind broaching the subject with her, as I can do this in a light hearted/non intrusive way, but after she was telling me how she was struggling with her heating and council tax last winter, I would hate for these girls to have taken advantage of her. (I believe she has family, but am unsure of the frequency of contact).

tudorfan22

a couple of lovely things have happened to me in the past week that made me think of this site. last week my OH and i were lucky enough to be in florida on our hols and linign up for a water park, it was coming up to the last dregs of our dollars, i was grumbling about how i should pay for this last day out - should i credit card it of debit card it - all the while thinking of Martin and how he wouldnt approve of using cards abroad - when a lovely american lady called us over and said she had 3 free tickets to the water park and would we (me, my OH and my BIL) like them? this would save us $50 each! she wouldnt take any money, but we were so grateful and really helped us out - i was so choked me for the rest of day - i promised there and then that as she wouldnt take any money i would pass it on to someone else if i see another person in need.

the 2nd thing - i was parked at a mult storey on weds and there was a huge queue to pay at the machine, i saw a sign that said you could pay by card at the barrier so we drove to the barrier, card in hand....well underneath was a teeny tiny sign say 'sorry - you can no longer pay here' by this point about 20 cars were behind me and i couldnt pull over, i was trapped and didnt much fancy joining the end of the queue while all the cars waited for me to pay. luckily the NCP attendant saw me and manually activated the barrier so i could drive through for free, i feel like such an idiot buit im so grateful to the car park attendant for saving me the 'walk of shame' another act of kindness im resolved to pass on!

Sally_A

That's karma in action

For every good deed that done to me, I try to do 2, and if I'm ever offered payment I refuse, but ask that they also do 2 good deeds - pyramid selling at it's finest.

It has backfired on me a bit, there's an old boy who lives along our road, during the ice and snow he would be teetering to the shops, so I would give him a lift as far as possible on my way to work. He now walks along the road, and up our path (whether we are in or not), and thinks my husband (only 13 months older than me, is my Dad :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:) Well, I guess the laugh he has given me, along with the ribbing I can give to OH is worth more than 2x karma.