Kindness Activist: World Kindness Day - Kindness Activist Funds Accounting

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

World Kindness Day - Kindness Activist Funds Accounting

Happy World Kindness Day!!

The official date was November 13^th, but I am only now taking time to sit down and tell you about it.

A few days before the holiday I put out an ask for help – WHAT SHOULD KINDNESS ACTIVIST DO FOR WORLD KINDNESS DAY? There were a few parameters. The suggestions had to be: in the evening since I had to work all day, could have a budget but not a huuuuge budget, and should spread kindness to multiple people.

There were lots of ideas generated! It was hard to choose just one, and I am sure that we will use some of the other ideas as the months go on. But one suggestion stood out. The writer said: “You should go to a cheap gas station and watch for people who were paying with cash. Then you should use Kindness money to help them get more gas”.

PERFECT! It fit all of the criteria – could happen after work, needed funds but not a huge amount of money, and would spread kindness to multiple people. Love it!

The suggester told me that they had been in the situation of not having enough money to fill their tank before. They explained that it was humiliating to only be able to put a few bucks of gas in when everyone around you was filling up. They said if they ever had someone offer extra cash to them to fill their tank they would’ve been delighted.

So once work was over – off we went!

We had printed flyers with beautiful drawings explaining it was World Kindness Day (one side English, one side Spanish). We drove to our favorite gas station, parked, and waited.

It was actually fun to wait! We watched people get out of their cars and tried to guess – are they paying cash or credit? When they walked into the gas station before putting in gas, we assumed they were paying cash. But sometimes we got tricked – they were going in to get food or coffee or play the lottery games.

So, we waited more.

And finally… we found someone!

A man parked at the pump but didn’t get out of his vehicle. We watched as he moved around a bit and I realized – he is looking for bills and counting the cash getting ready to go pay. And sure enough, when I followed him into the station, he was paying with one and five dollar bills. He asked for $20 worth of gas (which we all know does not go that far these day…). I put 2 $20s on the counter, handed him the World Kindness Day flyer, and asked if we could double his gas.

He was a bit confused. A bit shocked. And very surprised.

He said SURE, and I wished him a happy World Kindness Day as I left and got back in our car.

He was texting as he walked out of the station to his vehicle, I am guessing telling someone, “You will never guess what just happened to me…” It was so fun to watch him fill his tank. He was happy. He smiled and read, then re-read the flyer. When he finished with the gas, he folded the flyer and put it in his pocket. He saw us in our car, smiled and waved, and off he went.

We waited again and the next person paying with cash was a woman. I followed her in, wished her a happy World Kindness Day, and explained we wanted to add $20 to her total. She was so excited!! She gave us a big thank you as she passed our car.

The station was closing so I asked the person who originally suggested the idea if they knew a good place to try next. They told us about a gas station not too far away and off we went.

We parked and started the wait. I told David, “I think the employee saw us park here, what if he calls the police on us?”. We had a giggle imagining what we would say to explain to the police just what we were doing.

A gas customer pulled up and went inside. I rushed in, flyers and cash in hand, and plopped $20 on the counter to add to his money. He smiled and thanked me, but it was the cashier who was the most excited. He seemed to have a hard time believing this was happening – a stranger paying for someone’s gas.

After the person filled their tank and left, the cashier came to the window and smiled really big. He gave us a thumbs up – so sweet.

One more cash customer came before the station closed, and we added $20 to his tank, too. Then the cashier started his close up routine and we made our decision – we wanted to give $20 to him, too. I popped back inside, wished him a happy World Kindness Day, and gave him a flyer and cash. Wow was he delighted.

We had a great evening. We didn’t get to surprise as many people as we had hoped so we are planning to go out and do this kind act again another time (earlier in the day).

Amazing artwork by neighbors Bella and Joshua

We also had a big poster in front of our home that invited passersby to add a note saying how they would make the world a kinder place. It was super fun to read what people wrote.