Acts of kindness

MrsTinks

LOL Dizzy - as someone who lived in Norway I can safely say they are a lovely lovely people And I am hazarding a guess you didn't have studded tyres

I thought of something else...

Recently I came across this slide show on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13626871

It's about people struggling in Armenia - odd as I rarely look at the slideshows and I'm sorry to say I was attracted by the title about foraging for food - not realising it was in Armenia... Well I watched it a few times, then again the next day... and decided to track down the author Alex and ask if he could think of a way I could help the family with young children, the Howsepyans. Well colour me blue - he only replied! Put me and 2 other people in the UK in touch with the Oxfam lady in Armenia who helped the family set up a bank account and helped us with advice etc. Apparently what was needed was a cow... this would make them self sufficient and provide wholesome food for the family. It took about a month but we managed to scrape together enough for a cow and a little extra for feed and the family now have a dairy cow! We send them shoe boxes and will send more money directly to them to help feed the cow and maybe buy some chickens or sheep/goats.
I'm just grateful that the Oxfam lady helped us and the family so much to enable us to buy the cow and gave us their address so we can send them gifts directly - she drove out to them several times, brought them into town to set up the bank account and translated the receipts and agreements for the cows welfare for us...

If only I can work out how to send bananas! (if you've seen the slideshow you'll understand lol)

geoffky

I had been on strike for 12 months and was at rock bottom and a person who i hardly knew but was a trade unionist walked up to me in the street and said to me "here you go ,i do not want it back. he had handed me a envelope with £100 in it ...i will never ever forget that act of kindness.

I am sorry to admit that i smoke and i am a swine for giving my tobacco away to the big issue sellers..i keep one and give the rest away..

When we moved in aug last year we moved with just the clothes on our backs as we had given everything away apart from my lawnmower and a tv. our neighbours had been in hard times for years.

MSE_Martin

What a lovely thread


This forum has seen its own acts of random kindness too, just read these...


Kindness of strangers in the forum
Forum giving baby a place to rest its head
An act of genuine kindness to warm the heart

Aesop

MSE_Martin wrote: »

What a lovely thread


This forum has seen its own acts of random kindness too, just read these...


Kindness of strangers in the forum
Forum giving baby a place to rest its head
An act of genuine kindness to warm the heart

and don't forget this one

MSE user lisawaters (Mike) on BBC DIY SOS - The Big Build Littlehampton


and it started here

Lily_The_Legend

I was on a night out once and a young woman was sitting by a cashpoint asking people for spare change. I didn't know what she was going to spend it on, but I just couldn't walk off without giving her anything, she was on her own and looked desperate. I gave her a fiver, and she seemed really grateful. Someone who I was with said she'd probably spend it on booze, but I said I wouldn't blame her, it would keep her warm at least.

Also, did a supermarket shop when I was at uni and gave the change to a homeless man outside.

When I was on holiday, someone had dropped their phone and hadn't realised, so I ran after them and gave it back to them. I couldn't speak their lingo, but they seemed grateful.

And in a supermarket recently, I was leaving with my shopping and saw a fiver on the floor near the doors. Went back in and handed it in to customer services. I guess another person may have just kept it, but that could have been someone's last fiver for all I know! The staff did take my name down, and said I could claim it in three months time if the no one had come back for it. If I do, maybe I'll give it away to a needy cause.

Nothing major really, just stuff I'd appreciate others doing for me.

schoolrunmum

During the snow this last winter, 8 Italian businessmen were unable to get home to their hotel as the taxis they had booked could not get through the snow.
I had a 4WD so drove them as far as the taxis could get, it took me till 0245 in the morning ! On the way back home with my empty car I picked up all the waifs and strays who had abandoned theirs to walk and dropped them as near to home as possible. Had great fun driving on really tricky roads, and the next day the roads were passable, Interflora delivered roses and champagne as a thank you from the business mens company!

Enterprise_1701C

I try to be kind towards others but sometimes it is hard. A few years ago I was in a lift in the old Littlewoods with some mentally disabled kids and an elderly lady. Naturally I held the lift door open while they all got out, some were in chairs and it was a difficult process, the elderly lady hung back so I thought she was being kind, but on the way past me she said (and it is burned into my memory I was that annoyed) "I don't think they should be allowed out do you? They should be in a home". :eek: I was dumbfounded, especially as she then shoved past me (still holding the lift door) without even saying thank you.

Another time I found a phone and called the "home" number on it, they came and collected it and told me I was not allowed to keep things that I find, didn't even say thankyou, it was a good phone too!

Yet while I was working in the local newsagents we would often find purses etc left behind, people would come back and say thank you and be off, but a lovely old lady that we knew to be broke came back and gave me a bunch of flowers, I was quite choked up about that one because I knew what just that money meant to her!

I only hope that I meet more people like those on this thread, we seem to have a lot of wonderful people here and I am reading this with a lighter heart.

formaldehyde_perfume

When my dad was in hospital recently, he was in a room with two other men, one was much the same age as him (about 50) but the other man was very frail and old and couldnt really speak. While I was visiting it became dinner time and both my dad and the other man were served, but the elderly mans dinner was left on the side because it needed to cool down and he needed help feeding, the person who came round with the food said she would be back to feed him in a bit (she looked rushed off her feet) and that seemed reasonable to me, but as the time went on I realised that it had been a while since the lady had been and even if his food was hot, it would be the right heat to eat so I decided to get it for him (no one should be fed cold food that is meant to be hot! Urgh) I tested it and it was fine, so I started feeding him. He kept trying to feed himself and I looked above his bed, where it says whether they need help or special diet etc and it was fine so I moved the trolley up closer to him and put his food on a non-slip matting and let him feed himself.

He wasn't in a position to say thank you, but his eyes said it for him.

It's only a small thing, but I just thought that if I (or any member of my family) was ever in that situation then I would be so grateful for someone to do that for me.



When I was 11 I went to the public toilets and found a handbag hanging over the toilet roll, I told my mum and we took it to the police station and I'm so glad we did. The police man looked inside and there was £120 in cash in there plus credit cards etc. The man said we would have to sign a list to say thats what we had handed in and while he was documenting everything the lady came in and was distraught until she realised it was her bag. She gave me £5 as a thank you, £5 to an 11 year old over ten years ago was a lot, and I was super pleased I told everyone!


When we went to universal studios in LA I had to hire a wheelchair for the first time and my backpack hung on the back handles. We were having a great time until I wanted something from my backpack and suddenly realised that in all the comotion of trying to get my wheelchair down the escilators they have (the park is on two levels) that it must have been left on the floor. By this time it was nearing the end of the day and we were frantic. My phone, purse, ipod and centimental things like a tshirt I'd bought in Las Vegas and a print of us on a ride were in that bag and I was so upset, we looked everywhere and my parents rushed up to the lost and found place at the start of the park while I waited for transport up to the top. The arrangement was for me to wait at the drop off point while they tried to find it, I must have waited an hour but when they came back no luck We had to hand back the wheelchair so we did that and were advised to wait until the end to see if any of the cleaners or security had picked it up, mum and I did that while my dad rushed back to the hotel to get his phone so he could phone my mobile provider and cancel my contract. We waited until 20 mins before they closed and still nothing, the girl at the desk took pity on us and rang round all the lost and found and security areas of the park again and something magically happened... My bag had been handed in to them at the shopping mall complex outside of the park, I was so extatic! We told the lady on the other end of the phone a few of the things that were in it and she confirmed that everything seemed to be there and when I had a look everything was there! .. Even the $50 cash I had in my purse. I never got to say thank you to the person as they didn't leave any contact details, but I hope karma exists because that means they will get what they deserve in return.

Glitzer

These are lovely.

I am a member of a close knit forum and have had members send me things. My DH and I have received Sainsbury and Tesco vouchers from members when he hasn't been paid and we budget literally to the penny, no room for saving anything for rainy days!

When I was pregnant I had very limited mobility and was on crutches, practically housebound. Some of the ladies clubbed together and got me some books and a pamper set.

The best of all was shortly after we got married my DH and I got a taxi home after a very drunken night. The next morning DH discovered he didn't have his wedding ring on, he must have dropped it when taking it off to show our friend. We called the cab firm we used and the person we spoke to said she would get in touch with the driver and get him to contact us directly. 3 weeks went by and we had given up hope when we got a very apologetic call from the driver saying he had only just got the message as he had been on holiday and he came straight round to drop the ring off and wouldn't accept the fare (thankfully we had a new botttle of something which we gave instead).

russellelly

Great thread, apologies in advance for the length of this tale...

Two years ago I spent my summer volunteering in Bangalore. One evening i got home from buying some tea, realised I'd lost my wallet. A few days passed with me borrowing money off friends, just about to cancel the cards when one of the people I was staying with comes in with my wallet. Someone had been standing outside the building we were living in looking for its owner. Having photo ID in it and us being the only White people in the village, whoever found it traced it back to that building.

A few months pass and I'm leaving Bangalore. I have to get a rickshaw to the bus stop with my luggage, which I know costs Rs 15. A few drivers pass by offering to take me for much more, but I refuse. Eventually one comes along, takes me for normal fare. While he's driving he phones someone, and speaks to them in his language. Then he passes the phone to me; the person speaks in broken English about a lost purse. I check my pockets, but have my wallet. Gave the phone to the driver, confused. When we stop, the driver throws his wallet on the ground, then picks and up and actions giving it to me. Suddenly I realise, this is the man who found my wallet almost two months ago. For the Rs. 15 journey I gave him Rs. 500 and walk off in complete shock, almost in tears. Karma