It has been a while since I wrote about how Kindness Activist funds are being used, so this seems like a good time to do an update!
A neighbor recently told
me that she got accepted to LAW SCHOOL.
This is a big deal, and I am so excited for her! She is a single mamma of an adorable little
girl.
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| Tiny dancer (photo shared with Mom's permission) |
Now, being a solo parent means managing a lot – work, kid’s school, sporting events, play dates… And adding PARENT’S SCHOOL into the mix makes it even harder to balance. So, when I saw the mom post that she was looking for someone to give rides to her daughter one night a week from dance class to home, I knew Kindness Activist could help out. While we can’t commit to actually doing the DRIVING at this time, we COULD donate some funds to help pay for the drivers!
This donation will help
ensure a cutie patootie gets from dance class to home safely, and that mamma
can fully focus on class and get a great start on law school.
Kindness Activist funds
used: $100
The Little Yellow Free
Pantry is a food pantry that Kindness Activist runs in South Arlington,
Virginia. In addition to taking food
right out of the pantry, guests have the option of leaving a note explaining what
they need and their contact information.
We then arrange to get the items, contact the requester, and either ask
them to pick up or we deliver.
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| Some notes that were recently left in the Little Yellow Free Pantry |
Recently a woman left a note saying that she needed cereal and food for lunches for her children. This is a common need in the summer – some kids who get free breakfast and lunch during the school year no longer have that resource when school is out. So, I contacted the requester to get an idea what types of food the children like. She said, “We are not picky, just thankful”.
Usually, we pack up items
that we have on hand in the pantry storage area for requesters, but this time I
ordered online and had everything shipped directly to the family. They received lots of cereal, juices, mac and
cheese, fruit cups, peanut butter, ranch dressing (why do so many kids love
ranch??), and pickles 😊. Those items, supplemented with things they
get in the Little Yellow Free Pantry, will help to keep the children fed.
Kindness Activist funds
used: $67.58
Some expenditures are very
small, but the outcome of them can be LARGE.
One of those is lottery
tickets.
Lottery tickets are wishes,
dreams, hopes, all squeezed onto a tiny sheet of paper. They are keys that open the imagination: IF I WIN, what will I do… They allow the holder to suspend belief in
reality for a few minutes – to instead think “what if….”. And that, in my opinion, is why lotteries are
so popular. People must know that
the chances of them actually winning is very, very, very slim. But everyone with a ticket gets the chance to
fantasize and dream.
So, the other day when the lottery jackpot got really, really high, I bought a ticket for me and a ticket for my partner David when I was at the grocery store. Did I actually think we would win?? Well, I hoped we would, but I didn’t logically think we would…
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| Spoiler alert - David and I did not win |
I used the self-check a
bit later with my groceries and noticed that the store employee working in that
area seemed tired and a bit sad. Seeing that
got me dreaming about her – what if she won millions of
dollars!! What would she do???
I popped back over to customer
service and bought another ticket. I
handed it to the self-check employee. “This
is for you. Good luck!” I said and
quickly walked away.
Did I think she would
really WIN the big prize?? I guess
not. But I hoped that the ticket gave
her license to dream a bit. And I hope
that she won something. I doubt I
will ever know.
Kindness Activist funds
used: $2
Sometimes we get mail delivered
to our house that is not addressed to us.
Usually it is for a neighbor, and I just walk to their house and
redeliver it. But recently, we got mail
for someone whose name I didn’t recognize.
I had opened it before looking at the name, assuming it was ours, but it
turned out to be a stranger’s cell phone bill.
I looked for the name
online and found a Facebook account. I
sent a message to the person, but since we are not Facebook friends they did
not see my note. The bill showed that
the customer was not set up to auto-pay their account.
Now, I could have driven
or walked to the address on the bill and handed it over… But I decided that paying it would be a fun
act of kindness! I added an additional message
on Facebook explaining about Kindness Activist and letting them know that their
bill was taken care of for the month, but again, the message went undelivered.
I wonder what they thought
when they got their statement the next month and saw a payment…
Kindness Activist funds
used: $73.30
We were at WalMart
recently getting groceries. As we were
finishing up, I noticed a man at the self-check who was struggling to use the
system. I love ringing up groceries, so I
asked if I could assist him. He
explained that he didn’t know how to ring up his jalapenos (they didn’t have a
SKU to scan, he needed to pull up the produce screen and find them). I showed him how to do it and he smiled and
thanked me.
Then I explained that I (Kindness
Activist) would like to pay for his groceries.
He was stunned. He asked me a couple
of times if I was sure, and I returned the smile and assured him that yes, I was
sure.
His bags were full of
meats and canned vegetables and salsa. It
looked like he was finishing a hard day of work and stopping to get food for his
family. I paid, and he thanked me
repeatedly. He wore a cross necklace,
and as we all walked into the parking lot, he said, “God bless you”.
What he didn’t know is
that the interaction with him had “blessed” me.
You see, he reminded me of Hector, one of my dad’s roofers. I am not sure if I ever met Hector in person,
but I remember my dad talking about what a great guy he was, such a hard
worker. My dad died in 2018, and Hector
died tragically this summer (2023). They
suspect that his metal ladder hit an electric line and he was killed.
So, this act of kindness
made me think of Hector and my dad. Dad was
a shining example of kindness in my life.
He would give you the shirt off his back (and I am sure that Hector
benefitted from Dad’s generosity and kindness many times).
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| My dad - surrounded by his daughters |
Like so many acts of kindness in life, the giver sometimes gets as much (maybe more?) than the receiver. The stranger got a cart full of groceries, and I got memories of my dad. And you can’t put a price tag on those.
Kindness Activist funds
used: $151.49
