StoriesOfRAOK

Stories Of RAOK

We hope these stories will make you smile and give you some ideas. They are some stories from a number of different websites and people to inspire you to participate in acts of kindness of your own.

I lived in a small town growing up, and my friends and I decided one night, to do a "drive-by flowering." We went to a few different fields and gathered bunches of wildflowers until they filled my van (not just with flowers...also with dirt...so be careful!). Then we drove to our friends� and teachers� houses and left flowers tucked under the wiper blades of their cars and hanging from their front doorknobs.

I arrived at the airport in Pullman, Washington, excited about my approaching interview for admission to the University of Washington's veterinary school. I went directly to the rental-car agency to pick up my car, only to find, to my disbelief and horror, that my credit card had been refused and I had no other means of payment. I ran to the pay phone and called my roommate back in California. I was trying to explain what had happened in between hysterical sobs, when a man walked up to me, tapped me on the shoulder, handed me a hundred-dollar bill, and walked away. Thanks to the generous compassion of a total stranger, I made the interview on time and was accepted into the veterinary school.

My parents owned a house that they no longer lived in, but rented out. One stormy spring, tornadoes hit this house. The house was occupied by a single mother and her two sons. My sister called me that morning to tell me the news, and we went over to see what we could do for this family. The winds had torn away the garage, torn off the roof over the dining room and one of the bedrooms, and the rain was pouring in. We tried to save as many of this family's belongings as we could by loading them into a moving van which would take them to storage, but it's a big house, she had a lot of things, and the water was rising.
Out of the blue, this group of about ten teenage boys and girls came by and walked into the house to ask if they could help. We assumed that this was a youth group from the renter's church, so we showed them what needed doing, and they got busy. After about three hours, her belongings had been secured, and the group of kids left as suddenly and quietly as they had come. "It sure was nice of those kids from your church to come by and help out." I told the lady, "My church? I thought maybe they were from your church." We never found out who they were, but I know that this family would have lost a lot more if the teens hadn't shown up.

During 2002 National Make A Difference Day over 100 volunteers came together to create handmade blankets in five hours at the local senior centre. Over 500 handmade blankets were donated by volunteers ranging in age from 12 to 84.

As I left my doctor's office and started to climb into my car, a friend stopped to chat with me. Before I drove away, she asked if I had seen the note on my front windshield. Someone with a very generous nature and kind soul had left me a note to tell me that the rear tire on the passenger side of my car had a nail in it. Since I would not have noticed it otherwise, this was a wonderful thing for someone to do. I immediately drove to the Firestone shop, where they repaired my tire and sent me on my merry way. Had this wonderful person not taken the time to leave me a note, I probably would have had a flat in short order, and perhaps ruined my tire. Being a senior, it would have been difficult for me to take care of changing the tire, etc.

Someone dragged a coin along the bonnet of a car belonging to a friend of mine. He took it to a smash repair company near his work for the scratch to be touched up. When he went to pick up the car, he was surprised to be told that there was no charge. A little overwhelmed by it all, my friend mentioned that if he ever had an accident, he would bring his car to that establishment for repair. The owner replied, "Sir, I hope you never have an accident."

I have made it my goal to do something nice for somebody every day that I live. I find myself waking up each morning with new and exciting ideas of things to do for others, and the rewards have been wonderful.

The afternoon was cold and windy as I walked through the shopping centre of my little suburb. A busker, perhaps in his late fifties, wearing clothes that had gone well beyond their 'use by' date, played his guitar rather badly. "Don't encourage him!" called a passer by as I dropped a coin into the box. I crossed the road and entered a shop where I made regular purchases. I noticed the assistant would occasionally look out of the window at the busker. She turned to me and asked, "Would you mind the shop for a minute?" Surprised, I agreed, whereupon she took a pie from the warmer, ran across the road, and gave it to the busker. I have since learned that this was not an isolated example of her generosity.

Recently my son, who is a regular user of public transport, caught the bus home from school. Unfortunately he got on the wrong bus, but instead of just being told to get off and wait for another bus to take him home, the driver phoned me and said he would look after my son until he could be placed on the next bus home. I received a call from the second driver, confirming my son had been transferred to his bus. He also told me the time my son would arrive home.

The other day I fell on my way back from shopping. Fortunately all that was injured was my dignity, but I was touched by the actions of a passing motorist. When she saw me fall she stopped her car and waited until I had stood up again. Seeing I was OK, she drove off.

Once when working at the Department of Social Security, I was talking to a coughing client on the phone, so when I sent her the requested claim form, I enclosed a couple of Allen's Butter Menthols in the envelope. She rang to thank me the following day, and said that my act had made her feel better than the cough lollies had! It made me feel pretty good, too.
I was talking to my doctor recently, and was amazed to learn her act of kindness for Australia's National Kindness Day last year was to treat all of her patients she saw on the day for free!

Six years ago I was left to fend for myself when my husband left me for my so called friend. I was sad, scared, but mostly lonely. After the news became common knowledge, one acquaintance of my husband began to ring me every evening at around 10.30 pm to say, "Goodnight and God bless." I finally asked him why he was doing this. His response was, "I can't stand to think of you being alone and sad without anyone to say goodnight to, so I want to do it while you are so sad." This was a wonderful act of kindness from a man I hardly knew, but it made me feel cared for and not so alone. This man kept up the goodnight greeting for three months until I didn't sound or feel so sad, and then they stopped. I've never seen or heard from him since, but I bless his loving heart often.

When my youngest child started school I returned to teaching. I made it a rule to praise every child every day. The happy smiles they gave me were reward enough.

I would love to tell you of a kind act I had the opportunity to participate in, because of a strong feeling to help someone, who was not in a position to help themselves. A lovely lady in her nineties is a very good friend of my daughter's Godmother. I made a winter basket for her with all sorts of goodies, including a warm hat for the winter. It was such a pleasure to receive her phone call, she was so thrilled.

I went to a cake shop recently and was waiting to be served. There was this little old lady being served, she was asking the price of this and that. I told the man who served me that I would pay for the lady's choice. He whispered this to the sales woman, and I paid for mine and hers. However, she wasn't finished, and ordered a large apple pie as well - oops! The man raised his eyebrows at me, I thought for a brief moment and nodded my head - what the heck! When I was given my change I got out of there as fast as I could, as I didn't want to get sprung.

Doing my normal Saturday morning shopping, I was attracted by the sound of a flute. Casting my gaze about I spied a man standing on a nearby corner. As I walked closer there was something about him that caused me to think I should donate more than the usual one or two dollars. I walked up to him and stuffed a five dollar note into the top pocket of his coat. He stopped playing and said, "Thank you very much, that's very kind of you." As I walked away he began playing again, this tune was decidedly more up tempo than the previous one.

After many years as a city dweller, the opportunity came to move to a small town. Without having any job prospects, I decided to make the move. I hadn't been there very long when I mentioned to someone that I was going to buy a pot plant when I had the money, and put it on the front porch of the house I was living in. The next day, much to my surprise and delight, I found a pot plant on the front porch!

I was standing in a long queue at the supermarket. The woman in front of me approached the check out with three items. She paused as she hunted through her purse and pockets for money. "I definitely had $5 here" she kept saying out loud to her husband, who merely scowled at her and walked off, leaving her with two little kids. In desperation, she tipped the whole contents of her bag onto the counter and looked through it. Meanwhile, I was getting really upset for this young mother. I looked in my purse and decided I would have enough to pay my groceries and have $10 left over. So I just handed her $5 and said, "There you are, have a nice day, and don't forget to pass it on." I don't need to tell you how she reacted, and I thought she was going to kiss my feet. Out of sheer embarrassment I said, "Go on, get out of here and have a lovely day." The next thing I know the check out lady is handing me a bag full of free magazines and muesli bars. "Here," she said. "I'm astounded and so touched by what you did. Never in all my years have I seen anyone do that before."

We have a stall at the markets on Sundays, selling flowers. We look for people in wheelchairs or the elderly, also mums that look really unhappy, and we hand them a bunch of flowers for free - it's wonderful to see their reaction.

This week I suffered a home invasion. I was lucky that only an empty handbag was stolen and that I wasn't bashed. The response from friends has been incredible. Many of them have either rung me to make sure I am OK, or have passed messages of goodwill through other friends. Some have visited me, bringing gifts of flowers and Lotto tickets and (most important) hugs. One or two have offered me a bed for a few nights until I've got over the initial trauma, while others have offered to come and stay the night to give me a feeling of security. I have been given silent phone numbers, with instructions to ring any time, day or night, if I need to talk. I have received supportive emails and advice on how to better secure my home. All this wonderful kindness has touched my heart. How on earth can I say thank you? It seems such a hackneyed phrase for a very sincere feeling of gratitude. If friends were wealth, I'd be very rich indeed.

I am writing to you regarding an act of huge kindness toward me and my children that I considered worth sharing with you. I am a sole parent of three children . My first partner died a few years ago, and the father of my youngest has gone his separate way. A couple of weeks ago I got pulled over by the police doing roadside vehicle checks. The result was a yellow sticker for faults. This presented a major problem for me as the car is an absolute necessity, and finances as a single parent don't allow for unforseen emergencies. I was very distressed by the whole situation. But, my friend, and her husband Paul, stepped in with an offer of assistance. They ended up spending the whole weekend working on my car. Paul then requested half a day off work on Monday to ensure the work was completed before the vehicle examination that day. Another act of kindness by Paul's boss, who was made aware of the situation and allowed him time off. As a result, my car went through the inspection.

The other day I was in a busy shopping centre car park with little room to manoeuvre large vehicles, when I saw a lady getting flustered trying to reverse her large car out of it's parking spot, without much success, and a queue of cars waiting for her. I stood in the middle of the car park and it took a while, but with me directing her, she eventually got out and was most grateful. It turned a tense situation into one we had a laugh about - and that's what life is all about.

A friend of mine told me a story that recently took place at Woolies. She had noticed that the man behind her in the queue had only a few items in his shopping basket, and he seemed to be in a hurry - so she let him go before her. He was so touched that he bought her a chocolate bar from the display at the check out, and thanked her. She said that she and the check-out operator just smiled at each other in disbelief.

The other week I was in one of those bargain shops. I saw a plastic file which I thought would come in handy to keep some documents in. The girl at the check out counter said they were good, and she would like to get one for school (she was working in the school holidays). She said she didn't have the money at that time and would get it later. I thought there might not be any left 'later', so I bought her one. She was so pleased, and it was her birthday in a few days. It made me feel glad that I could help her.

As I was waiting in the supermarket queue, I noticed the man in front of me had three tins of meat and vegetables, and I thought that they were probably were his next three meals. When the tins were scanned he presented a credit card and asked for $10 in cash. I thought that $10 was a small amount to ask for, and guessed he didn't have much money. The card was scanned several times, but the message "Refer to card holder" kept on appearing. The man, obviously embarrassed, told the girl he'd have to leave the tins. I told the person I would pay the six dollars and something, and the poor man, now highly embarrassed, mumbled a thank you and rushed away with his tins.

There was an old lady in the supermarket queue in front of me. She had a tomato and a few other vegetables, and a tin of ham. When the value of the goods was totalled, she looked in her purse and told the check out person she didn't have enough money. The check out person said, loudly and rather rudely I thought, "Well, which ones can you afford to pay for?" The woman opted to leave the ham. I was tempted to pay for the ham, but didn't have the cash to hand over. I put my purchases through, and when I presented my credit card, told the girl I would pay for the tin of ham she had put to one side. "Why would you do that?" she asked. "Because it was probably for her next meal!" I replied.
I ran out of the supermarket and fortunately she wasn't too far away. I caught up with her and gave her the tin of ham. "What's this?" she asked. "It's yours" I replied. "But I can't pay for it" she said. "You don't have to" I said, and hurried off, leaving her standing there staring at the tin. When I drove away she was still standing there, staring at the tin.

My youngest son and I were standing at the local supermarket check-out recently with a full trolley. I noticed an elderly man behind me with only a few items, so I told him to go first. He was very appreciative. After he had paid for his things he walked away, only to return a few minutes later with a beautiful bunch of pink carnations. He gave them to me and said, "Thank you. You've taught me to be giving." I was stunned, as was the checkout girl.

As a teenager I had a very bad time, lots of abuse and things like that. One day I decided that I'd had enough, and I was on my way to hurl myself off the bridge and into oblivion. As I was walking I was sort of in a dream, not really aware of anything, but a voice lifted me out of the fog. There was an old man smiling at me, a gentleman, as he'd been wearing a hat and he had removed it and was holding it in one hand above his head, like you see people do in some old movies. I said something like, "What?", and he said to me, "It's a lovely day - don't you think?" I said I suppose it was, and he put his hat back on and walked away. I watched this small elderly man with a sprightly step walk down the path for what seemed like hours, and I finally sat down on a bench nearby. Yes, it was a lovely day, I thought, and why was I thinking of taking my life on such a lovely day? I moved out of home as soon as I had finished school, got a job as a waitress and did a secretarial course part time. After completing the course I worked for a small manufacturing company as a secretary, married my boss, and we have three lovely daughters. That incident happened about 15 years ago, yet it is still so vivid in my mind.

I was on a teaching prac. recently, teaching a 4/5 class. I told them about the 12 Days of Kindness and they thought it was really cool. Anyway, for "Children's Day" I organised an activity where each child wrote his/her name on a piece of blank paper. All the papers were laid out on the table, with the name facing upwards. Then each child (and the teachers too) went around, turned over the paper and wrote a nice thing about each child. At the end of ten minutes, the children each had a piece of paper filled with compliments. They were so excited to read them, but I collected them to hand out the next day (I wanted to read them first, and add my own message to each one). The next day I handed them out. The atmosphere in the room was amazing, as it was the previous afternoon when they were writing down the compliments.

I work as a checkout operator at a large chain supermarket, which is a job that leaves me feeling quite anonymous at times. However, I always make an effort to be cheerful and greet all my customers with a smile and a pleasant "How are you?", which, I can assure you, isn't always easy some days! Recently, I had an enjoyable experience serving a very friendly, bubbly lady who smiled right back at me and engaged in pleasant chitchat the whole time I was serving her. As many people simply ignore my efforts of friendliness, this was a lovely experience in itself. However, this lovely lady, unbeknown to me, then went on to see the manager solely for the purpose of complimenting me on my service and thanking him for employing such a friendly member of staff. The manager then bought me a box of chocolates as a thank you for my efforts. Well, as you can imagine, I was truly touched by this gesture, both from the customer and the manager. It really made me feel valued and loved, and I still feel teary when I think about it. It really doesn't take much to make someone feel so wonderful.

I went into the bank today to draw out cash to tide me over the next two weeks. There was a woman at the teller next to me and I overheard snatches of the conversation between her and the teller. There was talk about her having a food voucher from Vinnies, and the teller informing her that her account was already overdrawn, so she couldn't withdraw any further funds. It seemed she was a visitor to Sydney, and would be going home in a couple of days. She asked the teller if there was someone else in the bank she could talk to about withdrawing money, but naturally was advised that there was nothing that could be done, bank policy and all that. I pulled one of my precious $50 notes I had just been given, said, "Happy Christmas!" as I placed it in front of her on the counter, and walked out of the bank.

I recently had an operation on my leg for a damaged ligament. In my conversation with the anaesthetist prior to the operation, he said he noticed that the operation was self funded, and asked me about it. I told him that years ago I'd dropped out of the medical benefits system because of lack of money. He then asked whether payment would be a problem, and I said that it would be nice if I could pay the $500 fee in several smaller payments rather than in a lump sum. He squeezed my hand and said he would see what he could do. When I received his invoice after the operation, I was delighted to see that the $500 had been reduced to $380!

I am the coordinator for Children's Miracle Network at a hospital in my town. I am responsible for all of the employee fundraising events that go on inside of our hospital. Back in early February we held a Random Act of Kindness event for our employees. We sold bags of candy for $1.50, carnations for $1.00 or both for $2.00. Employees were able to purchase these gifts for their fellow employees as a "thank you" or "great job." The gifts were then delivered to the specified employees during the week of Valentine's Day (Random Acts of Kindness Week). The event went over fabulously! We raised over $700 for an amazing charity and brought happiness to our coworkers at the same time. The looks on the faces of our employees made the whole effort worth it!

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