Stories Matching 'Sharing Food' Tag (114)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 A Night With The Homeless--posted by AsianWoman, on Feb 12, 2010
comments (25) | email this | print | permalink Pay-It-Forward Chain Reaction at a Restaurant--posted by mbeal10, on Feb 14, 2010 My four grown children were all home visiting this weekend so we decided to go out for brunch. The centre of attention was my toddler granddaughter. She had never had pancakes before so we were excited about her trying them. We always try to make our family meals special so this time we decided to order every kind of pancake they had and asked that they be served on one big family-style platter! We each took turns digging in and also feeding it to the baby, who loved them. There was a lovely environment at the table and lots of smiles. As ... comments (35) | email this | print | permalink The Smile Card Exchange--posted by ClemDubois, on Mar 16, 2010 About a month ago, while in the drive through at Starbucks, I noticed a woman in a car behind me who appeared to be having a bad day. There were two kids in the back who looked to have too much energy at 8am on a Sunday morning. The line moved slowly and at one point while pulling forward, the woman behind me bumped my car. I could tell this worried and concerned her. The entire time that I waited in line for my coffee this woman didn't smile. Looking back at her I could tell she was looking at the side view ... comments (24) | email this | print | permalink A Five Rupee Formula for Joy--posted by twocents, on Mar 20, 2010
comments (10) | email this | print | permalink Three Hours and Three Beaming Smiles--posted by monkeyinpajamas, on Apr 9, 2010
comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Sharing a Birthday with a Homeless Friend--posted by Esclarmonde, on Apr 19, 2010
comments (12) | email this | print | permalink A Compassion Connection at the Checkout--posted by niloonie1, on Apr 24, 2010 I was in the check-out line at a store with two cases of Ramen noodles, one case of Cup of Noodles, one case of bottled water, one pack of plastic spoons, and one box of large zip bags. While waiting to put them on the conveyor belt, the man in front of me put his two packs of beer on the counter and looked at the food I had placed on the belt. He asked me if that was all I had to eat and I smiled and shared that it was all for the folks that live in the camp under the freeway and behind the car wash. He nodded, turned away and didn't look back. However, when the food came up to the register, he said, "I want to pay for this food also." I stretched out my hand to shake his, but he hugged me instead. I wanted to thank him but he hurried off and when he looked back I could see tears in his eyes. I knew that God had done something special in this man's life. comments (18) | email this | print | permalink A Lunchtime Opportunity To Feed Me Plus Two--posted by LittleOwl, on May 8, 2010
comments (5) | email this | print | permalink Compassionate Cakes for the Community--posted by Harriet, on Jun 29, 2010 I entered the monthly Kindness contest, answering the question, "What would you do with $100 to help your community?" I said that I would buy 100 cake mixes and bake 100 cakes and deliver them to 100 different blocks in my community, encouraging the recipients to share their cakes with their neighbors! I wanted to deliver not only food for their bellies, but food for their souls! I wanted to show the love that I had for my community and encourage others to talk with or meet their neighbors! I named the idea, "Compassionate Cakes". To my surprise, my idea was ... comments (23) | email this | print | permalink My First Thanksgiving--posted by BlueByrd47, on Jul 6, 2010 At 47 years old who would have thought I would have been wearing a "Baby's First Thanksgiving" bib? Although I didn't actually wear a bib, last year was my first "real" Thanksgiving. I came from a broken home and when I married 25 years ago, I sought to make my family everything I didn't have growing up. I'm afraid I had that "white picket fence" mentality. Every holiday needed to be picture perfect. The food, the dishes, the house decorations, even down to the cozy sweater I had purchased especially for the occasion. I was so wrapped up in how things were suppose to ... comments (4) | email this | print | permalink Long Distance Thanksgiving Kindness--posted by lanilaulii, on Nov 18, 2010
comments (19) | email this | print | permalink Helping Others Is The Best Medicine--posted by starbrite, on Jul 17, 2010 Yes, helping others is wonderful. Feeling so good helping out. You know what I mean..It brightens your day, lifts your heart and that wonderful from the heart smile! Fabulous! And then some. In March we had to take Dad's license away. Our proud, independent Dad was going to have to ask for help and to depend on others! Yikes! How does one do that? He had to ask/accept and we did too. Big changes. Now I celebrate the start each day with 'breakfast with Dad". We share special time. We help lift each other. I leave with a tired body but a fabulous smile. I have to admit there have been days when I had to ... comments (17) | email this | print | permalink Acting On The Voice Of Kindness--posted by twocents, on Aug 3, 2010 I was riding my bike around lunch time today and passed a man sitting just off the sidewalk with his face in his hands. My first thought was: "Stop! See if he needs help." But I was riding fast. I slowed down and looked back. It looked as though he was either praying or crying, maybe both. I decided that meant that I had to turn around. I rode up and asked if he was ok. No response. For a second, I thought he might be a drunk or a bum. But I asked again. He looked up with clear eyes and bright ... comments (11) | email this | print | permalink Sandwich Mondays Feed Hungry People And Our Spirits--posted by wolfhawk46, on Aug 10, 2010 I am new to this group but not to the idea of helping others. Funny thing is, I never really give helping others much thought, it is just something I do. I am sure that most of those who find their way here are similar in nature and action. The opportunities are all around us if we are open to them and not so caught up in our own routines. That being said, my first post here is not about something that would raise eyebrows, elicit sighs or gain a round of applause. It is just a simple thing but ... comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Goodness Begets More Goodness: How a Muffin Changed Our Day--posted by twiceblessed, on Aug 12, 2010
comments (11) | email this | print | permalink An Extra Special Restaurant Surprise--posted by beastly, on Sep 2, 2010 I recently had the chance to have a meal with some close friends who don't live in my city. The choice of restaurant was a pretty fancy one known for triple digit bills. We had a wonderful time together at the restaurant and approaching the end of the meal, I excused myself. I silently headed towards the waiter and asked him to charge the meal to my credit card, but to also not tell anyone that I did it. I signed for the meal and and quickly went back to my seat, no one the wiser for my trip. When it ... comments (18) | email this | print | permalink A Small Act at the Grocery Store Starts a New Ripple--posted by Byrdwoman, on Sep 5, 2010
comments (22) | email this | print | permalink Offering Me the Oportunity to Give--posted by cabbage, on Sep 18, 2010
Yesterday we had a bunch of friends over to play some music and share a meal together. My husband and I had both made some special dishes and when everyone had left, there was some left over. My husband started packing up a few containers of food to give to an older woman who lives in our neighborhood... and then he asked if I would deliver it because "I know how you like to do that!" I left the house and walked over to the woman's house to give her the food. When I gave it to her, her eyes lit up and she was just thrilled. When I was leaving, she said that I had made her evening so much brighter-- it was how she said it that really touched my heart. I walked home, gazing at the full moon, and thanking my husband for letting me be the "giver". He always does the right thing and never wants any credit!---I can learn from that. comments (24) | email this | print | permalink From Hospital to Home with some Help--posted by luckyman, on Sep 14, 2010 The other day I found an old man and his wife sitting by a footpath looking exhausted. On asking I learnt that he had just been discharged from hospital and was going home ( I could make out some bandages around his neck, partially covered by the shirt ). He and his wife had to walk some distance to reach the bus stop and the hot and humid weather was obviously taking its toll on them both. I made up my mind to help them and I put them in auto rickshaw (a three wheeler taxi) and paid the fare to their house. As he got into the auto, I saw the look of relief and gratitude on his face. It was worth million dollars! I felt very blessed and felt sorry for those who saw his condition but did not reach out to help. For me it is very hard to ignore people in need, especially when I am in a position to help. Who knows ..... some day I may be old .... needing help ..... One sure way to feel good is to do good. comments (7) | email this | print | permalink A Bag of Chips Changes My Son--posted by dgrav, on Sep 14, 2010 Performing acts of kindness seems to have been a theme in my life for a long time. I started when I was a little girl, when I wrote a poem about friendship to a neighborhood lady who always seemed to be in a sour mood and was especially unfriendly to the neighbhorhood children. When I had children of my own, I continued to do acts of kindness in their presence, so that they might learn by example. Sometimes they participated, and sometimes they just observed. Afterwards, each time we would talk about it and it always brightened my day immensely. One day ... comments (39) | email this | print | permalink A School Lesson in Compassion and Understanding--posted by vickistanley04, on Sep 21, 2010 My seven year old son Nicholas came home from school one day and in the context of our usual "How was school?" chat he told me about one of his classmates who had asked him to share his snack with him in a somewhat forceful way. After this chat, as a room mother, I had the chance to better observe the boy concerned. I saw he never had a snack and was often dirty, so I understood a bit more his situation. From that point on I sent extra crackers, etc., everyday and Nicholas made a point of sitting next to the boy ... comments (27) | email this | print | permalink All It Takes Is A 10 Second Thought--posted by PS, on Sep 7, 2010 I've been so inspired by everyone's thoughts and reflections that I thought I'd take the plunge and continue a recent practice of stepping out of my comfort zone and sharing this story. Last Friday, I was coming home late after spending time with friends andthought I'd go down to the $.99 cent pizza place. On the way, I saw a man sitting on a random stoop. I'd seen him before, panhandling on the stairs I walk up every day as I leave the subway running late to work, but this time I had no place to rush off to. There was something about ... comments (13) | email this | print | permalink Things Aren't Always What They Seem--posted by missdre, on Oct 5, 2010 Last week I was in the store getting my weekly groceries. As I shopped I noticed one couple in particular. Our paths seemed to cross in a few aisles. Once, my cart got in their way and the woman was surprisingly annoyed. As I walked on through the store I couldn't help but wonder why she had been so upset with me. That same couple ended up ahead of me in the check-out queue. I could tell they were adding up the price of their groceries very carefully. They kept checking to see if they had gone over their price limit, which was quite ... comments (23) | email this | print | permalink Cookies, Girl Scouts, Our Troops and Smiles--posted by pdayers, on Oct 21, 2010 Some of the women at my work had been hit up to buy cookies from some Girl Scouts they knew. We wanted to support the young girls but we were all working on losing weight. We were wondering what to do when we got the idea to send the cookies to the troops overseas. My daughter was serving in Iraq when this happened. I packaged them up in a care package and sent them out to my daughter's unit. My daughters unit enjoyed them so much and we got lots of appreciative letters and emails from them. It was so lovely to receive all of those and see what an impact a small gesture on our part had had. They were flying a flag at their unit and told us they were going to bring it home for us to fly here. What a blessing was brought out by wanting to support one cause by buying cookies and bringing smiles and love to another cause! comments (6) | email this | print | permalink An Extra Special Holiday Gift--posted by mel777, on Dec 16, 2010
comments (10) | email this | print | permalink School Friends Step-Up The Generosity--posted by trueblue07, on Oct 12, 2010
comments (12) | email this | print | permalink Kindness Ripples Spread Through Arby's--posted by carol.s.dorman, on Oct 7, 2010
comments (9) | email this | print | permalink Doubling the Gifting--posted by pkiracofe, on Nov 27, 2010 Having experienced the joys of giving small gifts to others through regular random acts of kindness, I have increasingly questioned whether I was truly being generous or whether I was seeking ego-gratification or some sort of karmic credit to justify living an otherwise ordinary life. To test this concept, I asked myself if I would be just as generous if the acts were truly anonymous, and I would receive no credit. In seeking out those opportunities, an even more interesting challenge arose - providing random strangers with the opportunity to gift acts of kindness. The first experience was as a restaurant in ... comments (22) | email this | print | permalink Small Change Can Make A Big Change--posted by Nesquick86, on Dec 18, 2010
comments (31) | email this | print | permalink Sometimes It Just Takes A Penny--posted by keymaker, on Dec 28, 2010 On the street, outside a restaurant door, my wife and I are chatting with friend about some good news in her life. Right then, a woman comes up to me and asks, "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I'm really hungry and I'm wondering if you could spare some money?" In our city, there are many pan-handlers, so I typically would just share a kind word and move on. But somehow I feel moved to do something this time. Perhaps it was because we were just conversing about some good events happening in our friend's life and I had a sublte sense ... comments (25) | email this | print | permalink
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A Night With The Homeless
by: Ellis Moore (Age 10)
Every Saturday or Sunday night my family and I go out and feed the homeless people in the city of Orlando. There are thousands of people across The United States without any food or shelter. My family and I have been doing this for several months.
We wanted to see what it was like in the life of a homeless person. One special thing I like to mention is, my family and I do not eat before we begin our journey so we know how it feels to be hungry. All of ... 
On my way out the building in the morning, I search my pockets for 5 rupee coins. If I have one, I go to the shop downstairs and buy 5 packets of Gems-- an Indian version of M&Ms. There are 3 Gems per packet, giving me 14 chances to make someone smile (there would be 15 but invariably the first Gem ends up in my own mouth!).
On the first day, I gave one each to the two youngs sons of my dhobi (washerman), and to the boy who lives in the makeshift shack in front of my building. Their hands ... 
It was a hot weekday afternoon and I was on my way to volunteer at a reading session with visually impaired girls.
I got in to a rickshaw and immediately struck up a conversation with the rickshaw driver. The rickshaw driver started telling me the story of his life. He related that he had grown up very poor and he and his siblings didn’t have much. He said he worked very hard so that he could make sure that his children had the opportunity to attend a decent school. He said that there were many nights when he would skip dinner ... 
I live in a big Scandinavian city that unfortunately has a lot of homeless people. Luckily there are small ways of helping them even though you may not have a lot of money. One way to help is to buy their monthly magazine. By doing this one day, I got to know a young homeless man who was often standing at the train station, selling the magazine.
He was a refugee from another country and I can only imagine what kind of psychological scars he must have had from living in a war-torn country, escaping it and then ending up being homeless. After a ... 
It has struck me, lately, how heightened awareness of the things going on around us can present many new helping opportunities!
Last week, I was driving through a local sandwich chain at lunchtime, when I saw two men sitting on the grass a few yards away conversing with each another. They very thin and seemed a little dirty and unkempt, and very thin. It seemed to me that they were homeless... but they were not standing around, with signs or asking for anything.
I immediately felt like I could not just buy myself a sandwich without helping them eat, too. I asked the person at ... 
I work with a warm, fun-loving woman named Heather. This year our boss asked a group of us to join his family on Thanksgiving. Seated around the table, Heather said something had totally changed her the day before -- like she was walking in a new direction. I listened and watched as her eyes welled with tears.
Heather deals daily with people on the telephone. She was speaking with a Veteran and asked if he was looking forward to Thanksgiving. She was surprised when he said no, and asked why.
He had been let go from his job more than a month before ... 
There are two men who are almost always outside my grocery store, in various states of dishevelment. One is sometimes (but not always) in a wheelchair. He holds a sign that says he is a vet and "anything will help." The other man is younger, nearly toothless, and if he were not in such a public place, would maybe frighten me a little. I have walked past them countless times, on my way to buy my family's weekly groceries.
I don't usually like to give money to panhandlers. But I see these guys so often, that I decided to make eye contact, say ... 
I was in the line at Dunkin Donuts. The couple in front of me had ordered their food and stepped to the side. I proceeded to order mine. Quick and simple. Then I noticed a young man. I could tell was not having the best of luck and it showed on his face.
He walked in carrying his belongings in a torn plastic bag. The couple ahead of me turned, looked, then turned away. The lady grabbed her purse tighter and her husband quickly stood in front of her.
I moved over so he could order. He looked at the board, checked his ... | Home | About Us | Our Friends | Get Involved | Contact us |  |  |  |