Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Did You Do It???

Have you done your random act of kindness yet? If you have please leave a comment and let me know what you did.

On the way to work this morning Chris went and bought a gas card and left it on a pump at the gas station.

I just went thru a drive-thru and paid for the car behind me. My mom and I were just talking about it before I did it and she ask what would happen if the car behind was ordering for 15 people. I told mom that if it were 15 people they were buying for then it was 15 people that I was supposed to be buying for it didn't matter. You know what, it only cost me $3.

I think I need to print up a bunch of cards and just put them in my car and make this something that I don't do on a certain day but do whenever I feel like making someone smile. I was just thinking this morning by just leaving a quarter lay on the ground somewhere that someone would easily find it you would bring a smile to someone.

Another thing I thought of is if I lived closer to a NICU I would leave a gift card at the nurses station for a parent of a baby in there. Paige was a NICU baby and just let me say there are some very tiny babies in there that the parents will be there sometimes for months.

So anyway I can't wait until the next Random Acts of Kindness challenge but I am also going to try harder to make it something that I do regularly.

Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know how it went for you!

2 comments:

Jaime G. said...

i did it! i paid for lunch for the person behind me in the drive thru. odd thing though... i was SO nervous! i'm not sure why, i don't think i've heard of heard of anyone being offended that a stranger bought them lunch. but it was neat that when i said i'd like to pay for the person behind me, the lady working the window asked if i new that person, and i said no. she asked if i was "paying it forward" and i told her it was just a random act of kindness to bring attention to the orphans int he world adn she was REALLY impressed with that being the reason of it, then handed the paper to give to the benefit-ee adn drove away, shaking but smiling. thanks for encouraging us to do this!

Mark and Melanie said...

Sarah - Thank you so much for posting this challenge! Here's my LONG comment.

My first stop was at our local library where I donated a bag of books that I had already read. I put card #1 in the middle of one of the books. They were having a book sale today so it was perfect timing.

Next stop was our wonderful bakery, Otto's - I couldn't wait to get there. Last time I had stopped, Anne (the owner) had told me about a little IOU board she had for people who didn't have cash to pay for their goodies (Otto's doesn't accept debit cards). I had planned to pay for one of those IOU's and leave a card in it's place to give to that person when they came back to pay their bill. Unfortunately, they didn't have ANY IOU's today. So, I settled for buying a dozen donuts which Mark took to the local sheriff's office along with card #2. I know he wasn't thrilled about doing that so I really appreciated him being a good sport!

I headed for Mickey D's to pay for the person behind me. Murphy's Law - it's 11am and NO ONE is going through the drive through. I circled the parking lot twice before I noticed someone headed that way - quick got in line ahead of them. When I paid for my order and the person behind me, I asked the cashier to give them card #3. While I waited for my food, it was fun to watch them looking at my car, trying to figure out if they knew me. And I was getting more pumped up about my challenge!

Our local dollar store was the next destination. My plan was to pick up balloon bouquets. As I was checking out, the cashier asked if I wanted to purchase a toy to donate to "Kids in Crisis" - a program that allows law enforcement to provide a stuffed animal to a child as part of their interaction in difficult situations. I requested that card #4 go with the toy and the cashier readily agreed!

On to deliver my balloon bouquets at the pediatric unit of our hospital. I explained my challenge to the unit secretary and asked that the 2 bouquets (and cards #5 and #6) be given to whichever children they thought most appropriate. She was thrilled to be part of the surprise and also loved the cards! While I was there, I left a bag of candy for the staff along with card #7 and thanked them for everything that they do in caring for sick children.

Oh, I was having fun! Being at the hospital triggered my next act. One of the staffing people I interact with recently found out that she was losing her job this month. Carol is such a nice person and has a beautiful soul. Well, she works from a location at the hospital so while I was there, I stopped at the gift shop - bought her a little thank you card and chocolate - leaving it on her desk to find with card #8.

After this, I needed to make a stop at the bookstore. As I was looking for a parking place, I saw 2 young adults on the corner - singing and playing guitar. Hmmm - another opportunity! They were packing up by the time I parked and walked up to them, but I still handed them a few dollars with card #9. They were so appreciative!

I had parked at the opposite end of the block from the bookstore for my last random act. Although I wasn't able to use card #10, I got out a handful of quarters (hoping I had enough)and walked down the block plugging change into all the parking meters that a car was setting at. Not surprisingly, I still had 3 quarters left at the end of the block. God always provides for our needs, doesn't He?

It was a privilege for me to perform these Random Acts of Kindness and share them with you! I hope this will be a small step towards making these types of gestures part of my daily life.