Stories Matching 'Generosity' Tag (161)Environment Research New Ideas Public Transportation Children Inspiration Teachers Seniors OnThe Road Grocery Store Money Workplace Animals At Home Anonymous Friendship Kindness Kindness of Strangers Courage Small Acts of Kindness Health and Wellness Generosity Sharing Family Respect Neighbors Reconciliation Smile Cards Advice Good Samaritan Giving Money Giving Ability School Church Youth Collective Arts Creative Kindness Random Act of Kindness Homeless Travel/Vacation College/University Holidays Internet Birthday Sharing Food Emergency/Disaster Community Relationships Paying-It-Forward Coffee Shop/Restaurants $100 Kindness Idea Smile Decks Thank You Serendipity Carnations with a Smile at a Supermarket--posted by Kat C., on Mar 23, 2006
comments (25) | email this | print | permalink A Tattoo Named Lost--posted by singlestep, on Apr 17, 2008 Got on the plane in Minneapolis for the two hour and nine minute flight to NY. Spent the first nine minutes of it talking to the young curly-brown-haired passenger with long sideburns. In the first three minutes of talking to him I noticed on the back of his hand a ball-point-pen tattoo. One word. "Lost". And for some reason that touched me. In the same inexplicable way that "Help Wanted" signs in store windows do sometimes. That people would be so honest, so open about their vulnerability. I wonder what he is going through. This fellow passenger with his friendly manner who freelances ... comments (56) | email this | print | permalink Snow Angel--posted by Anonymous, on Apr 4, 2006
comments (4) | email this | print | permalink Warm Story From Ethiopia--posted by Brendan Moran, on Apr 11, 2006
comments (6) | email this | print | permalink A Firefighter's Point of View--posted by Moran, on Apr 22, 2007
comments (24) | email this | print | permalink London Cabbie's Payment-in-Kind!--posted by T.S., on Apr 25, 2006
comments (7) | email this | print | permalink Thankfulness Chocolates--posted by VM, on May 26, 2006
We recently bought some furniture from a shop, and they really worked hard to make sure it reached us within 2 days. So I just thought I’d buy a box of chocolates for the salesman, who really did a good job on selling us on it. comments (3) | email this | print | permalink A Stolen Bike and Help from Strangers--posted by Jessica Laplante, on Jun 2, 2007 It was a typical winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005: While most people were warming up their cars, my husband got up early to ride his bike the four kilometres to his job at Mr. Lube. When my husband arrived at work, he parked his bike outside the back doors as he usually does. After putting in 10 solid hours of labour, he returned to find his bike was gone–stolen. The bike, a purple kona 18 speed, was our only source of transportation. Trevor used that bike to get to both his jobs, putting in ... comments (4) | email this | print | permalink Driveway Turns Into A Beach--posted by Tom Gerdy, on Feb 14, 2008
comments (45) | email this | print | permalink Looking for Josephs--posted by Della, on Jul 28, 2006
She stood looking at every tag on the tree for over an hour. Ten years old and a heart of gold, she decided that she would give up one of her Christmas gifts to the boy named Joseph who needed clothes but wanted a skateboard. comments (11) | email this | print | permalink Listening Life Raft--posted by twocents, on Sep 24, 2006 She recognized my face, but didn't know my name. It didn't seem to matter though. For me, it had been more than two years since I saw her, but my guess was that this had nothing to do with me. She had gone through a lot, that much was clear. In the past, it was tough to tell if her continual distress was a result of on-going chaos or the residual mental effects of prior suffering. Not only was she not open about this, but found ways to inappropriately interject her own issues into any conversation and lead it down a negative path, which ... comments (4) | email this | print | permalink Eleven Envelopes with 101 Dollars--posted by Sukh, on Oct 13, 2006
comments (15) | email this | print | permalink Music of a Stolen Symphony--posted by keymaker, on Nov 17, 2008 It's a late night on the streets of New York. Larger-than-life size billboards come alive with their glitz, trying to make you want things that you don't really need. Up ahead, I notice a homeless man who doesn't have the things he really does need. Ironic. "Gift size chocolate bar, one dollar, one dollar," he says while showing a candy bar to people walking by. He's rejected. "Just one dollar." Rejected again. "Candy bar, candy bar for you," he shows it to a child walking with her mom. The mom jerks her ... comments (52) | email this | print | permalink U2 Tickets--posted by courts, on Nov 14, 2006
comments (14) | email this | print | permalink Bracelet From a Child--posted by Zelene, on Feb 7, 2007
comments (15) | email this | print | permalink Give One, Get Two Skates Free--posted by J. Madden, on Feb 21, 2007 In December, I went to the Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Philips Square. As I was sitting at the side of the rink taking off my skates, a little boy about 6 or 7 walks up and asks "Are those your skates?" I answered ‘Yes’ and wondered if he thought I had stolen his skates, since I wear boys hockey skates. He said: "Oh, I don't have skates." For some reason, I blurted, "Do you want mine?" I told him to first ask his mom. He ran away excited and his mom asked if it was really okay [and I said yes.] He was jumping up and down in excitement. After he put on the skates, I watched him take off with a big smile. Two weeks later I was in the recycling room in our condo. Residents leave items for others to salvage. I found two Bauer boxes with new skates, both in my size! I gave one pair to a friend who was there the evening I gave the boy my used skates. She shook her head and said: “You give away one pair, and you get back two”! comments (16) | email this | print | permalink For the Children--posted by raqui, on Mar 8, 2007
comments (9) | email this | print | permalink My Second Chance To Be a Parent--posted by tonigirl, on May 30, 2007 On April 28 2001, my youngest sister was killed in a random drive by shooting. Her 3 youngest sons went to live with my surviving sister but were never happy there; I wanted to gain the gaurdianship options from my sister but didn't want to risk fracturing our family even more. A couple of weekends ago, though, my sister called and said the boys (17 yrs & 15 yrs) could no longer live with her and that their only options was either foster care or living with me. There is no way I was going to miss this chance. Still, my ... comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Joys of Picking Tamarind--posted by guin, on Jun 8, 2007
comments (13) | email this | print | permalink The Waffle House Waitress--posted by Paul, on Jun 19, 2007 I was recently traveling with a friend when we decided to get something to eat. Being a huge Waffle House fan, we scouted out the area we were in, and found one. If you have never been in one, or have never heard of it, Waffle House is kinda like a chain of diners that serve the best waffles around! They won't be found at the top of any Zagat's list of Fine dining, but they are my favorite! Our waitress took a while to take our order, asking the same questions a few times. We made a few ... comments (18) | email this | print | permalink A Flashlight From An Old Man--posted by gcampanella, on Jun 26, 2007
comments (20) | email this | print | permalink Few Bills Under A Paper Napkin--posted by Shephali, on Dec 27, 2007
comments (42) | email this | print | permalink A Compassion Buddy Overseas--posted by kylierose16, on Jul 26, 2007
comments (16) | email this | print | permalink Not All Skateboarders Are Hooligans!--posted by eyemknowsyko, on Aug 5, 2007
comments (28) | email this | print | permalink A Simple Card For a Beautician--posted by kylierose16, on Aug 18, 2007
comments (27) | email this | print | permalink The Seed Has A Sprout--posted by justoneheart, on Sep 18, 2007 I am a single mother of a darling 6 year old girl, Haley. With a six year old come a lot of questions! Who is that? What are they doing? Why? Where...and on and on. I love her questions! Sometimes I do not have an answer, sometimes we brainstorm the possibilities of what may be together. Children are very, very observant and have excellent memories! One example that comes to mind is right around Christmas last year. We were heading out to her Grandma's house -- an hour drive, so lots of time for chatting! We were waiting to get ... comments (23) | email this | print | permalink A Goal of Kindness, Smiles, and a Slurpee.--posted by snowflake66, on Oct 10, 2007 Last week I decided I would choose one thing to be kind about and really focus on achieving that goal. That goal was to allow anyone who wished to, go ahead of me -- putting others' needs first before my own, no matter what. And let me tell you, this was not easy. Especially driving :) But true to my word I let others go before myself. Drivers who needed to merge were, with a smile and a wave, allowed in front of me (much to the distress of the people behind me -- so I guess I didn't really make ... comments (25) | email this | print | permalink Late Night Dinner With Scott, Maia and the Host--posted by hurricane, on Oct 31, 2007 Last week, while visiting my Dad in Washington State with my daughter, we went to a local restaurant for a late dinner. When our host seated us, my dad asked him if there were any military having a meal in the establishment. The host said there was a soldier eating dinner with his friend. My dad told the host to tell the soldier and his friend that their dinner was paid for and that we should get dessert too! He also stated that he did not want to be identified as the benefactor. Our waitress, who witnessed this as well, commented ... comments (10) | email this | print | permalink A Small Scoop Of Love--posted by earthling, on Dec 4, 2007 Last week, I was shopping for groceries at the local store. The specialty of the store is free stands where customers are given samples of new products. Being an ice-cream lover, I gravitated towards the free ice-cream stand and the clerk in-charge gave me a big smile saying "You are lucky! This is really popular and this is the last cone I have to give away!" I was happy too, until I turned around to see a toddler craning her neck up to see my cone with one hand pulling her Mom's dress. Disappointment was written all over her face. Apparently, Mom had just explained the idea called 'no more' to her. I knelt down, extended the cone and asked if she'd like to have it. Four faces lit up all at-once! And that tasted better than ice-cream :) comments (25) | email this | print | permalink Like The Flowing River!--posted by bearhug, on Dec 4, 2007
[ One of my favorite stories from Paulo Coelho’s 'Like the Flowing River', in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.] comments (15) | email this | print | permalink
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Every since I was little I loved doing things for other people. As I got older I began doing random things for people. For example, during holidays, such as Christmas, I would make out an extra card along with the ones for my relatives. Then I would go and find someone in the grocery store and just hand it to them and walk away! It was so much fun. Although I admit, the first time I did it I was so nervous. I didn't know who to give the card to. So I said a little prayer and knew that ... 
I was at work and it had been snowing all day. I peeked outside about an hour before leaving work and I was terrified to see that every square inch of my car had been blanketed in about 8 inches of snow. I stayed in the office a few minutes after 5 trying to figure out how I would get the snow off of my car in heals, a skirt and no window scraper! I finally sucked it up and walked outside. To my surprise as well as relief, my car was completely clean of snow. My windows were scraped, ... 
I traveled to Ethiopia last year with my business partner and president of OLA's Exotic Coffee & Tea. We are a coffee company that imports coffee from Africa and traveled to Ethiopia to visit the coffee plantations and speak with the government about investing.
Back in the day when I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life, I was studying to become a firefighter. I was a volunteer fire aide with the city of Milpitas, and was studying at mission college. As a firefighter, you're constantly thinking of other people and trying to help children. That's the mindset, at least for someone trying to get into a fraternity of brothers that is the No. 1 most difficult job in the country to get!
One night after going to class I was heading home and decided to stop off at a burrito place. ... 
Last week, I was running a little late on my way to my first day at a new job in East London. I had injured my achilles heal a couple of days before and didn't want to put too much pressure on it by running to the tube station so I decided to jump in a cab just to get to the station. 
A dear friend was only weeks away from death from cancer. She said she was sorry she wouldn't be able to see the ocean again and get her toes in the sand. We live in Central Virginia and she was unable to travel so the trip to the coast wasn't going to happen. Some of us decided the solution was pretty simple. We would surprise her and bring the beach to her.
What people appreciate the most is the people. That’s what we learn at the annual "Walk for Hope" each year. Sure the quotes are great. This year they were even hand made and literally took over three months to create. The activity stations are great too, they give the walkers a chance to pause, interact and reflect. But year after year, people always say that the best part of the walk is interacting with all the people that are there. What a concept, just your mere presence becomes a gift at the walk for ... 
I work in media and often get some pretty great perks in my job. I wanted to share one of them with you - probably one of the hardest acts of kindness I have done yet!!! But it was worth it!!!
I was at work yesterday and was about to leave when my supervisor walked into my office and handed me an envelope. She had two tickets to the U2 concert that was playing that night in her hand and said they were mine if I wanted them.
I LOVE U2, they are my favourite band, and I quickly said yes ... 
I was waiting at the doctor’s office with my infant son. A little girl came up several times to talk to me. I looked down and saw that the girl had three bright and shiny bracelets on her. I said, ‘Oh, what lovely bracelets.’ The girl grinned from ear to ear and said they were a birthday present from her mother. She then took one of them off and handed it to me.
At first I thought, “Oh, I can’t accept this from such a little girl.” But what would I be saying to the little girl if I refused her ... 
I recently went to a restaurant to buy a pie for a party. As I walked up the steps and opened the door, I saw a hunched-over old man with a cane walking toward me carrying a handled bag full of things he had just purchased there.
I stepped back and opened the door widely so that he could pass through easily.
As he did so, he stopped and said to me, "Wait!" He set down the bag, reached into one of his pants pockets, and retrieved a tiny plastic keychain flashlight still in its original plastic wrapping. He handed ... 
He almost didn't see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.
Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.
He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how ... | Home | About Us | Our Friends | Get Involved | Contact us |  |  |  |