Fresh Squeezed Kindness

This example of kindness is to show that helping others need not be difficult.  Heck, sometimes you don’t even really need to go out of your way!

When we were in Florida over the holidays we treated ourselves every morning with fresh squeezed orange juice.  This was possible because there is a cute little store there that has bags of fresh oranges – an employee brings in bags of them right from her grove and sells them very cheap ($6.50 per bag).  We love ‘em!  They are super juicy so obviously make great orange juice.

Ormond Beach, Florida December 2015

When it was time for us to hit the road and drive back to cold Northern Virginia, I took a moment to post this message to my neighborhood group in South Arlington:

“Perhaps an odd offer, but putting it out there... If you are missing summer, we are heading back to Penrose from Florida. There is a store here in Ormond Beach, FL that sells 1/4 bushels of oranges right off the tree for $6.50 per bag (really cheap J ). They are not FANCY oranges - different sizes, some have spots on the outside, they are not FANCY GROCERY STORE looking. But they make delicious fresh OJ. We have had it practically every morning while we have been here. 1 small and 1 large orange usually fills 2 juice glasses for us. If YOU would like a bit of summer in the winter, we have room in the car to bring some bags back. I could even drop them by your house on Monday. Just private message me and let me know how many bags ($6.50 each). The store doesn't always have a lot of bags as they are picked right from the owner's trees, so it depends how many she has brought in. But if there are bags and you want them, we will transport.smile emoticon You must let me know by 1:00 pm Saturday if you want some. HAPPY OJ DRINKING!”

Four people messaged me and asked for oranges.  So when we loaded the car to drive home, we had lots of citrus in back!  I delivered the oranges and I like to think it brought a tiny bit of sunny Florida to people.

Here come the sunny Florida oranges to cold Virginia neighbors!!

See, it didn’t cost me MONEY, the people paid for their own oranges.  It didn’t even really cost me gas money because everyone lived in the neighborhood so I didn’t drive far at all delivering them.  It just cost a tiny bit of time, and I like to think that I have that to spare!  And for that little investment of my time, some neighbors got a bit of kindness!

Here is what one neighbor said when she posted this photo after the blizzard:

 

“Last fresh fruit standing at our home.  Going, going – all gone!  Thanks neighbor!  They were yummy!”

Going, going - all gone!

And another neighbor said that they had a house full of teenage girls at a sleepover and served them fresh OJ for breakfast. 

Being kind is EASY.  And it spreads joy.  What can you do today to be a kindness activist???  Take a minute to tell me about it – send an email to kindnessactivist@gmail.com