kindness

Most people might overlook a stranger’s stolen wallet, particularly if it ended up in the ocean. However, Jimmy Gilleece, the owner of a bar in Wrightsville, North Carolina, was determined to assist a distressed customer, and his quest to recover the wallet profoundly impacted his life. Last month, a female patron approached Gilleece in a panic over her lost wallet, which contained her ID cards and also her wedding ring. Gilleece began his search by meticulously reviewing hours of security footage from the bar. After examining various cameras, he spotted the wallet on a bench outside and witnessed a hooded figure pocketing it. Gilleece identified the thief as 17-year-old River Prathers, who confessed to taking the cash and discarding the wallet into the ocean from a nearby pier. Undeterred, Gilleece hired two divers to search the shoreline, and eventually, one of them retrieved a waterlogged wallet with the wedding ring intact. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, Gilleece decided to extend his kindness further. He learned that Rivers had been homeless after becoming estranged from his mother. “He was living in the woods during freezing temperatures and hadn’t eaten in two days,” Gilleece recounted. “I could tell he wasn’t a criminal; he was just someone in need of help.” Instead of reporting Rivers to the police, Gilleece invited him to live with his family, and since then, Rivers has become part of their household. He now works two jobs and has aspirations for a better future, all thanks to Gilleece’s compassion. “I say thank you to him every day,” Rivers expressed. “I’d do anything for him.” Love and kindness have the power to turn even the darkest traits into something positive. We should strive to embrace kindness, even when it seems like the simplest or most ordinary choice.

An older man with a bandaged arm faced difficulty eating at a Huddle House restaurant in Douglas, Georgia. A piece shared by Dallas Smith Jr. captures the moment when a restaurant employee, identified only as Ms. Wanda, noticed his struggle. Despite being busy, she set aside her tasks to assist him by cutting up his pancakes after he had attempted to do so himself with limited success. The situation became more poignant when Smith learned from the man’s family that he was a war veteran who had recently injured his arm while intervening in a domestic dispute. The story went viral, receiving widespread acclaim on social media for Ms. Wanda’s compassionate gesture, highlighting the kindness shown in everyday situations and also encouraging us all to be mindful of other people’s struggles, and if possible, lend a hand to save their situation. There’s always something one can do to help another.

Jessica Rudeen experienced her first flight with a toddler and a baby, and without the kindness of a fellow passenger, the journey could have turned chaotic. Due to unexpected circumstances, Rudeen was unable to breastfeed her 4-month-old son, Alexander, before boarding. As he began to cry from hunger, her 3-year-old daughter, Caroline, also became upset, demanding to exit the plane. “I genuinely feared we might be removed from the flight,” Rudeen shared on Facebook. “With both kids in distress, I was frantic to find a solution.” Fortunately, Rudeen was seated next to a man named Todd, who stepped in to help. “Todd took the baby and held him while I secured Caroline with her seatbelt and got her settled with a tablet for a movie. Once she was calm, he kept her entertained so I could feed Alexander,” Rudeen recounted. “By the time we were taxiing, the chaos had subsided.” Throughout the flight, Todd engaged with Caroline, colouring and watching movies together, and even pointed out interesting sights outside the window. By the end of the trip, he had become her new best friend, receiving a kiss on the shoulder from her during their window-watching session. Coincidentally, Todd was also on the same connecting flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Wilmington, which he frequently travels for work. He guided Rudeen and her children through the airport to their gate and even changed his seat on the next flight to sit with them. Rudeen later shared pictures of Todd and Caroline on Facebook, expressing her gratitude for his remarkable kindness. “Todd showed me a level of compassion I’ve never encountered before. He mentioned that his wife had a similar experience when their boys were young, where a stranger helped her,” she reflected. “I am amazed by how fate placed us next to such a wonderful person.” Verily, there’s hardly any act of kindness that goes unrewarded. The Universe will always create an avenue for it to be paid forward.

Michael Malone, a 60-year-old veteran, has recently faced homelessness due to extensive repairs needed on his childhood home. After serving in the Air Force from 1976 to 1980 and in the Air Reserves until 1996, Malone has been coping with the emotional toll of losing both his mother and daughter. Although he inherited his childhood home after his mother’s death, he lacked the financial means to undertake the necessary renovations. Fortunately, over 70 volunteers from Indianapolis stepped in to help. In recognition of National Volunteer Week, teams from Home Depot and Volunteers of America dedicated their time to renovate Malone’s home during their off days. Within a few days, they remodeled the bathroom, repainted the interior, and installed new flooring. A particularly touching addition was the installation of an American flag in front of the house, which holds special significance for Malone, as his daughter was born on the 4th of July. Malone expressed gratitude for the kindness of the volunteers, stating, “I’m kind of overwhelmed. I’m happy, I’m sad in a sense that my mother won’t be here to experience this – this was her home.” He noted that seeing the flag would remind him of home and his daughter. The renovations are part of Home Depot’s initiative to invest a quarter of a billion dollars to combat veteran homelessness by, with Malone being one of many veterans benefiting from their efforts.

Evoni Williams was going about her usual workday at the Waffle House in La Marque, Texas, when a moment of kindness transformed her life. At just 18 years old, Williams had been working at the restaurant since graduating high school, diligently saving her earnings to fund her college education. On a particularly busy morning, a partially disabled customer named Adrien Charpentier requested Williams’ help in cutting his ham. Charpentier, who has been experiencing muscle weakness in his hands, found it difficult to use a knife, although he could manage a fork. Without hesitation, Williams assisted him, despite the bustling environment around them. Unbeknownst to Williams, another diner, Laura Wolf, captured this entire exchange on camera and shared it on Facebook. The post quickly went viral, garnering thousands of shares and drawing the attention of La Marque Mayor Bobby Hocking. Moved by the gesture, Hocking declared March 8 as “Evoni ‘Nini’ Williams Day” in her honour. In addition to this recognition, Texas Southern University awarded Williams a $16,000 scholarship to support her college aspirations. Overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, Williams expressed her gratitude and plans to study business management, with hopes of one day opening her own restaurant. In a world where you can be anything – be KIND

Christiana Corrado was in the right place at the right time when she saved a New York driver who suffered a heart attack, attributing her presence to an unexpected craving for a cherry slurpee. After not having one since her pregnancy three years ago, Corrado felt a sudden urge for the icy treat on a Thursday morning. While heading to a 7-Eleven, she witnessed an SUV veer off the road and crash into a CVS wall. As an EMS instructor and paramedic, she quickly made a U-turn to assist the injured driver. Upon reaching him, she found he had no pulse and was cyanotic, appearing very blue. Corrado performed chest compressions until the driver regained consciousness. Reflecting on the incident, she expressed her amazement at how a simple craving led her to be in the right place to help. “It’s pretty strange to me that all of a sudden on this day at that moment I would decide to go to that particular 7-Eleven,” she said, emphasizing the serendipitous nature of the event and the role of fate in her actions. Whenever the need for kindness arises, may we rise to fill that gap, may we never hold back stretching out in fellowship of humanity.

Most bus drivers operate on strict schedules, but one compassionate transit worker took the time to assist an older blind man navigating a construction site. Gene Hubbard, a 69-year-old man who lost his sight due to diabetes, has been commuting independently to work in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the past 20 years. He is familiar with his route from the bus stop to his workplace, but recent construction at an intersection posed a major challenge. “If I don’t have a regular locating point to start from, I may as well be in the middle of the ocean,” Hubbard explained. Fortunately, 28-year-old Thaddaus Turner, a driver for the Milwaukee County Transit System, noticed Hubbard’s predicament as he approached the bus stop surrounded by orange cones. Turner parked the bus, disembarked, took Hubbard’s arm, and guided him safely through the road work. An oncoming car stopped traffic to allow them to cross, and the driver, Sydney Kazmierczak, captured the moment on her phone to share Turner’s act of kindness with news outlets. “I feel like I was placed there at the right time to capture this moment!!” Kazmierczak stated. “I am so happy I quick pulled out my phone to snap the picture! Thad deserves to be recognized!!” Turner, however, remains modest about the incident, attributing the same level of kindness to his fellow bus drivers. “The route was barricaded, it was rough for me as a driver; I can only imagine how rough it was for him,” he told CNN. The Universe positions us in particular places and moments to either receive or extend the gifts of Nature’s generosity and compassion. Let us embrace this responsibility when it arises, rather than shy away from it.

When a man in a wheelchair approached a barbershop in hopes of getting a haircut, this barber was not about to turn him down just because their building was not wheelchair accessible. Victor Burgos is a barber at Joe’s Upscale Barber Shop in Webster, New York. On a certain day, he was working at the shop when he noticed a man in an electric wheelchair out in front of the store. The shop phone rang and Burgos heard an electronically-assisted voice asking if they accepted walk-ins – and he knew that it had to be the man outside. Burgos, who has worked at the barbershop for the last three and a half years, says that because they’re based out of an older building, it has not yet been made wheelchair-accessible. Instead of turning the man away, however, Burgos grabbed his tools and offered to give the man a haircut right there on the sidewalk. “He definitely needed a haircut,” Burgos told Inside Edition. “It looked like he hadn’t had a haircut in about a month. It was pretty shaggy [and] I know how good it feels to get that weight off of you. I could tell that he’s never had a good experience. I could tell without even asking him, and I just wanted to change it for him.” As it turned out, his efforts were a success. The man was so pleased by Burgos’s attitude and skill, he later sent his aide to the same shop for a haircut of his own. Social media users have praised Burgos for the gesture after a fellow barber secretly snapped some photos of the haircut. Joe Cocozza, the owner of the shop, made sure to praise Burgos as well by publishing the pictures on Facebook. “I wasn’t there, but a few days ago at the shop we had a man in a wheelchair come to the shop on a recommendation,” wrote Cocozza. “I couldn’t be happier when I was told this story. I couldn’t be happier to work and know a person of such kind nature as Victor. I’m proud to know that even when I’m not around our staff will go out of their way. Just to make someone happy!! “He did not have to do this,” he continued. “Vic is one of our busiest barbers and is always busy. So, Vic thank you for being that guys and not only always proving what type of person you are, but also being a CLASS ACT and bringing class to Joe’s Upscale Barber Shop. Vic had no idea these pics were even taken.” Furthermore, the incidence inspired community members to rally together and buy a ramp for the barbershop in the future. I kid you not, whatever you do and wherever you find yourself, put on the full armour of kindness, for you’d be doing some really great service to humanity and posterity will forever be thankful.

I can’t say enough about this beautiful young woman named Clara who didn’t think twice about helping her fellow passenger. It was a beautiful reminder, in this time of too much awfulness, that there are still good, good people who are willing to look out for each other…We are all starving for good news, and this is just what the world needs. She saw a gentleman named Tim, who appeared to be both deaf and blind, in Boston’s Logan airport. He was leaving town after visiting his sister when Lynette observed her signing into his hand so that he could feel her words. He had been assigned the middle seat of Lynette’s row on an Alaska Airlines flight.“The kind gentleman who had the aisle seat graciously gave it up for him. At this point Tim was traveling alone. The flight attendants sincerely wanted to assist him, but had no way to communicate.” “I watched as they didn’t flinch when he reached out to touch their faces and arms. They took his hand and tried so hard to communicate with him, to no avail. He had some verbal ability, but clearly could not understand them. “The man who had given up his seat did his best to assist Tim with things like opening coffee creamer and putting it in his coffee. When Tim made the attempt to stand up and feel his way to the restroom, his seat mate immediately was up to help him. The flight attendants were talking among themselves and someone suggested paging to see if anyone on board knew sign language. “That’s when this lovely young woman came into the picture. 15 years old, she learned ASL because she had dyslexia and it was the easiest foreign language for her to learn. For the rest of the flight she attended to Tim and made sure his needs were met. It was fascinating to watch as she signed one letter at a time into his hand. He was able to ‘read’ her signing and they carried on an animated conversation. “When he asked her if she was pretty, she blushed and laughed as the seat mate, who had learned a few signs, communicated an enthusiastic yes to Tim. “I don’t know when I’ve ever seen so many people rally to take care of another human being. All of us in the immediate rows were laughing and smiling and enjoying his obvious delight in having someone to talk to. “Huge kudos to the flight attendants of Alaska Airlines who went above and beyond to meet Tim’s needs. Life would be much easier if we all embraced kindness and shared it freely and without reservation.

Ebony Harris, a cashier at a Walmart in Burton, Michigan, went above and beyond to help a customer in need. When Angela Peters, a woman in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy, was turned away from the store’s nail salon because her hands shake due to her condition, Harris stepped in to make sure Peters still got her desired manicure. Harris offered to paint Peters’ nails herself during her lunch break. The two women picked out a sparkly blue polish that Peters liked, and Harris spent her break sitting with Peters at the Subway seating area inside the store, carefully painting her nails. “I just wanted to make her day special. I didn’t really want her day to be ruined. That’s why I did it. Plus she’s a sweetie,” Harris told News outlet. Peters kept apologizing for moving her hands, but Harris reassured her, saying “You’re fine.” Tasia Smith, a Subway employee, snapped a photo of the heartwarming exchange and posted it on Facebook, where it was shared thousands of times. While some social media users suggested boycotting the nail salon, Harris emphasized that her intention was not to bash the salon or make them lose customers, but rather to raise awareness that people with disabilities deserve the same love and attention as anyone else. “She’s a girly girl. She’s just like you, me, Tasia, my daughter, anybody. She wants to look pretty, you know, and so why can’t she?” Harris said. Peters and Harris have since become friends, and they already have plans to get dinner together in the near future.