Stories Matching 'Good Samaritan' Tag (118)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 Three Homeless Men--posted by mike adams, on Mar 24, 2008
comments (37) | email this | print | permalink Something Warm--posted by Anonymous, on Mar 28, 2006 A few years ago, this southern Alabama town experienced unusually frigid weather, cold enough to knock out the power for days. My husband, braving the cold, was on the way to the grocery to resupply our perishibles, and passed a police officer. He was standing in the middle of a fairly remote and windblown intersection, directing traffic. He thought of the officer again when he'd completed his errands, thinking of how cold he must be, stopped at a convenience store and bought a large cup of hot chocolate or coffee, it escapes me now. But, when passing the officer again, he rolled down his window, passed the cup to the officer, and thanked him for his help. My husband's description of the expression on the officer's face was that he was surprised, and grateful. What a simple, easy way to practice these thoughts we have. comments (5) | email this | print | permalink Snow Angel--posted by Anonymous, on Apr 4, 2006 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, ... comments (4) | email this | print | permalink A Firefighter's Point of View--posted by Moran, on Apr 22, 2007
comments (24) | email this | print | permalink A Simple Prayer--posted by Shelley, on Apr 16, 2006
comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Art with heart...--posted by Trishna and Deep, on Apr 19, 2006
comments (5) | email this | print | permalink Chocolate Insanity--posted by Anon, on Apr 22, 2006 It was a routine trip. We, my wife and I, are walking back home from the grocery store when we spontaneously decide to walk into a coffee shop. As my wife orders a small cup of coffee at the counter, I huddle our grocery bags under our table and get ready to share some hot coffee on this unusually cold day. Just then, my eyes catch glimpse of a young woman in her thirties escorting a rather frail Mexican woman into the shop. Maybe it was the gentleness of their encounter or a vague familiarity with the circumstances, ... comments (16) | email this | print | permalink Miles of Smiles--posted by JZ, on Apr 24, 2006
comments (58) | email this | print | permalink London Cabbie's Payment-in-Kind!--posted by T.S., on Apr 25, 2006
comments (7) | email this | print | permalink A Kindness Lesson in Action at Dinner--posted by Kim, on Apr 26, 2006 I love to do the random things like pay for the person behind me in the fast food drive thru.... This week after church we decided to go out to eat with our kids in tow. Our family consists of 6 children, some adopted. We went to a local restaurant. We were seated next to a family of 4 children, and I noticed the young mother had a bandana on her head and appeared to have a hair loss issue, it immediatly touched my heart. I told my husband I want to pay their bill. He looked around, I think he was looking ... comments (17) | email this | print | permalink Flowers That She Couldn't Smell--posted by bluebuddha, on Jul 1, 2011 “Everyone says the flowers smell good but I don’t smell anything. Nothing. Do you smell them?” she asks, in her heavily accented voice. After walking around a busy street looking to do a random act of kindness, I had stumbled into this flower shop. Even though my mind was busy devising possible scenarios, I had a gut feeling that something was going to present itself. A little startled by the flower lady’s question, I tell her that “the flowers smell ah-mazing and perhaps you should take a break once in a while so you can enjoy them too.” Before ... comments (70) | email this | print | permalink Christmas With My Son--posted by Anon, on May 5, 2006
comments (11) | email this | print | permalink I Bow to the Paint on my Walls--posted by Sukh Chugh, on May 12, 2006 Wow! I got seriously tagged with an act of anonymous kindness last week. Actually, its more like ’seriously pummeled’ with kindness. I spent 26 days at a meditation retreat, mainly to begin the process of self purification through self discovery...I guess you could call it a renovation of the interior walls of my mind. As I walked back into my studio home on Sunday, WOW, a few folks had decided that they would self-purify my home and renovate its interior walls as well. The place has been tiled, every corner has been painted, fridge has been stocked, light switches ... comments (23) | email this | print | permalink Sunflower and a Frog--posted by JZ, on Feb 23, 2008 He took it out from around his neck and leaned down a bit, his eyes looking straight into mine. "Would you mind?" he asks. Looking at him through his eye glasses, I smile and say, "Of course not, Lee. It would be an honor." And with that, I was garlanded -- probably for the first time in my life -- with a simple necklace. Lee is the epitome of a happy-go-lucky guy. He used to be a trucker, I think. If there were one word to describe him, it would be happy. Or joyous. And what a pure heart. In one ... comments (24) | email this | print | permalink Gift of Motherhood, Gift of Kindness--posted by VM, on May 18, 2008
comments (5) | email this | print | permalink Roses and Newspapers--posted by Tamara, on May 19, 2006
Hi I'm 12 years old and I recently saw a movie called 'Pay It Foreward'. It was all about doing random acts of kindness. comments (4) | email this | print | permalink Wear Smiles--posted by JZ, on Jan 26, 2008
comments (17) | email this | print | permalink 40 'Left Over' Carnations From Graduation--posted by Kat Callaway, on Jun 21, 2007 Recently I graduated from high school, and as a gift I recieved a huge bouquet of carnations; 40 to be exact! I had so many that I didn't know what to do with them. The next weekend my niece and nephew came (ages 4 and 5) and we took every single carnation and tied a smile card to it's stem. We then went to our local Dillions Store and I gave each of them one flower at a time. I explained that these flowers would make other people smile, and then they could take the cards and do something nice ... comments (34) | email this | print | permalink A Stolen Bike and Help from Strangers--posted by Jessica Laplante, on Jun 2, 2007
comments (4) | email this | print | permalink Car Wash, Heart Wash--posted by MitaP, on Jun 7, 2006
I used my smile card the other day! It was awesome! comments (5) | email this | print | permalink Buying a Miracle--posted by Anonymous, on Jun 13, 2006
A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes, carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door. comments (23) | email this | print | permalink Survivor Flowers--posted by Kat Callaway, on Jul 3, 2007 A few weeks ago, my mother, brothers and I went to Wal-Mart to get some things for my upcoming trip. It was pretty late, and the store, although huge, was very empty. However, as we approached the checkout lane, I noticed a lady wearing a baseball cap over her bare head. She looked tired, and it was pretty obvious that she was going through chemo.. .that, and my mother approached her and asked her. You see, a few years ago, my mother was also diagnosed with breast cancer. It was really hard for all of us, exspecially since we were in the ... comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Laundry Mystery--posted by anonymous, on Jul 12, 2006
comments (4) | email this | print | permalink Got Up Off My Bed--posted by Jac, on Aug 8, 2006
comments (9) | email this | print | permalink The Happiness Entrepreneur--posted by Keymaker, on Oct 22, 2007 "I have a package for Jonathan," Tom says. "Um, ok, let me page him," the person behind the counter says. This is an independent book store, and they generally don't get random deliveries like this. Wearing a buttoned shirt over a pair of jeans and black sneakers, Tom might've been taken for an errand guy. A closer look, though, and Tom's mystique is evident with the serenity on his face and the depth of his voice and the span of his geniune smile. On paper, Tom has a ton of accomplishments to his name, but in spirit, he ... comments (13) | email this | print | permalink Five Dollars and a Lot of Love--posted by Wes Bennett, on Aug 23, 2006
After several months of having only one income suporting our household, we had been struggling to make ends meet. comments (6) | email this | print | permalink Father and Son Getting Home--posted by Wes Bennett, on Nov 6, 2007
comments (66) | email this | print | permalink A Little Bit of Love is the Price of the Fare--posted by hpotter, on Sep 21, 2006
comments (17) | email this | print | permalink Sandals at New Year's Eve--posted by MS, on Oct 4, 2006 Many people spend their New Year’s Eve, getting dressed up and dancing their way to midnight. We decided to do things a bit differently. We filled a backpack with clothes, shoes and other goodies and headed out to the railway station. The first person we spotted was a 15-16 year old boy picking up discarded plastic bottles on the platform. We called him over and started up a conversation. We had a discrete look at his hands and noticed he had long fingernail. We explained that it was important to keep short nails (studies have shown that disease occurrence in the poor can be ... comments (13) | email this | print | permalink Sharing Birthday Love--posted by hpotter, on Sep 29, 2006 My sister is on the other side of the world. I'm volunteerting in India while she's at home in Canada. While I can't be there physically to celebrate her birthday, I wanted to spread some love to mark the day. I set off to the market to get ingredients for cookies when I saw an old man carrying a long rod with a weight on one end and a large tray holding food which he was selling on the other hand. Perfect! I went up to the man and took the rod off his shoulder and walked with him for the next half ... comments (2) | email this | print | permalink
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A friend of mine in Chicago sent me an e-mail with her description of an uplifting event that she witnessed...
"And talking about beautiful...yesterday I was witness to such a heartwarming random act of kindness. It will forever be imprinted in my mind. I had to run downtown to help Bonnie out for a few hours (it was not part of my original plans for Monday). On my bus ride back to the train station, we were in gridlock traffic right by the opera house. As I stare out my window a handsome young man (25ish to 30ish) walks out of ... 
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. ... 
As a single mom, it is often hard for me to provide those little "extras" my children seem to want.
Last week, I arrived back home to our flat in London from my trip to visit my family in California to find a "mystery package", which someone had left with the porter in our building some time while my husband and I were both away. It was a large envelope with a wooden backing, and a small note on top reading "Deep and Trishna, Enjoy!" As soon as I opened the flap, I discovered a Smile Card attached, and I knew instantly that someone had anonymously reached out to us with an act of kindness.
As I reached into the envelope, ... 
"Right on. This is my kind of protest," he says while going past me. I hadn't thought of it way before. But perhaps it is a protest for lack of smiles in the world.
About 15 of us gathered earlier today to create poster boards that we would proudly hold up on busy street intersections of San Francisco. The posters would say simple things like "smile" or "smile anyways" or "spare a smile?" or "smile, it's free". We weren't doing this as a part of any organization but rather as friends and well-meaning citizens of the ... 
I have a five year old son and two 18 month old twins and especially at Christmas time I wanted them to truely understand what the act of giving was all about. So I made a list of people that were less likely to recieve gifts or love and let my five year old chose who we would give gifts to. 
Two days before Mother's Day, I was at a Walmart with my wife, getting some gifts, and I saw a nice gift set of lavender-scented lotions and other stuff (Hey, I'm not supposed to know exactly what all comes in those sets :-)) And so I thought what the heck, I'll get one and we'll find someone to give it to.
So we're paying for everything, and the woman behind the counter is this cheery, middle-aged woman who remarks "Getting a gift for Mother's Day, huh? Nice set," or something. Somehow that set showed up for only half of the price, ... 
I was a first year college student in a Graphic Design course and I'd like to tell you an interesting story that happened to me a few months ago. You see, I live in a "seedy" (an abundance of illegal activity) apartment building whose residents are a large diversity of minorities, most of which I have never met, (I don't even know my neighbors name), and we all have to use the laundry room on the third floor. The dryers in the laundry room are old and usually require more than one cycle to fully dry even a small load ... 
For a long time, I have been toying with the idea of going abroad to do something worthwhile, a voluntary thing, either working with kids or animals... and have been spoiled for choices with the kind of organised things you can pick, different causes, different countries. It's very expensive though. And I was puzzling over how can I be able to afford the flights and costs and everything. And impatience took over me. | Home | About Us | Our Friends | Get Involved | Contact us |  |  |  |