kindness

Jessica Bell, an attorney and advocate in Chicago was riding the subway home late one Friday evening when she witnessed a spontaneous act of kindness that brought tears to her eyes. A homeless man, who later said he was from Louisiana, pulled his swollen feet from a flimsy pair of running shoes that were clearly not intended for a Midwestern winter. The shoe backs were folded down like slippers to leave enough room for a thick layer of socks to fit inside. “I don’t know how many pairs of socks he’s wearing in an attempt to keep his feet warm but there is blood seeping through,” she wrote on Facebook. 38-year-old Maurice Anderson was traveling back to his hometown to visit his daughter, like he does every weekend, when he saw the same heartbreaking scene unfold in front of him. He suddenly wanted to give his own boots, but started arguing with himself: He’d just bought the boots a few weeks ago, and paid $260 for the pair. But within 30 seconds he was unlacing them, and asking the man what size shoes he wore. Size 12, was his answer—Maurice is a 12-and-a-half. Bell continues, “Quietly in-a-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fashion, the younger man takes off the boots he’s wearing and passes them to the old man… He opens his suitcase and gives him a pair of socks as well.” Maurice then pulls out a spare pair of shoes from the suitcase. “These shoes are nice too, but not as nice as the boots,” Jessica stated. “They would have fit the old man just as well, but they were not what this old man needed.” Especially because he believed his feet might already have frostbite. “If you’ve got 20 pairs of shoes, you can only wear one at a time,” Anderson told Good News Network. “I wished I’d had more socks.” “The reason I posted about Maurice is because we’ve all given, or see people give food, or money to the homeless, but I have never seen someone give the clothes off their back so unselfishly and so humbly,” Bell told Maurice said that when he was exiting the subway car, Jessica, who is the founder of Project Bleeding Love, which supplies homeless women with feminine hygiene products, approached him and almost burst into tears, saying, “I’ve never witnessed anything like that.” She gave him her card so they could keep in touch. Anderson, who had tried to find a job as a laborer with the city, finally needed to move to Cincinnati because he found work there. It would seem like a man with his integrity (and dedication to his daughter), would be a welcome addition to many companies in the Windy City. Maybe his newfound fame will land him a position with good pay, and he can continue warming the hearts of people in this icy town.

Ella Johannessen was overwhelmed by financial difficulties when a stranger learned of her troubles and decided to leave a little gift for the 23-year-old student while she was asleep. Johannessen was on a train from London King’s Cross Station to Leeds on Saturday morning when she called her mother and started venting about her money problems. As a Leeds Beckett University graduate, she reportedly fell into debt during her final year in college when she had to drop her part-time job and focus on her studies. “I was rather stressed and upset over my financial situation and was trying to locate what had happened to £35 that had been sent to me over a bank transfer,” Johannessen wrote on Facebook. “I spoke to her about how little money I had, how worried I was about my finances and I got upset.” After hanging up the phone, the 23-year-old fell asleep in her seat. When she awoke a half hour later, however, she found that someone had left her £100 ($141) tucked into a napkin on her lap. “I started to cry,” said the student. “After a terrible 18 months where I lost my father and both of his parents, it showed me that there is kindness and good people in the world.” According to the BBC, the money will keep Johannessen’s bank account from being over drafted. She hopes that her thank you note to the compassionate stranger will reach them on Facebook, and she plans on paying the good deed forward by volunteering for a charity in Leeds.

This Jewish nurse wasn’t about to let religion get in the way of a baby boy’s livelihood. The baby’s mother was injured in a head-on car collision in Jerusalem on Friday, while the father was killed instantly. The boy, Yaman Abu Ramila, was then taken to the hospital by paramedics for his lighter injuries. The aunts of the 9-month-old baby went to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital to claim Yaman – but when he cried for several hours, refusing to eat from a bottle, the women were distraught. Finally, a Jewish nurse named Ula Ostrowski-Zak volunteered to breast feed him herself. Since Ula has an 18-month-old child of her own, she said that it was like “feeding her own son”, even though the aunts were taken aback by her kind gesture. “His aunts were surprised that a Jew agreed to breastfeed him, but I told them that every mother would do it,” said Ula, according to News Outlet. “His aunts embraced me and thanked me.” Until the boy’s mother is fully healed, he will be staying with his grandparents in Hebron. When we’re determined to show compassion neither religion nor political differences would stand in our way.

Sometimes all it takes is a little reality check to put things in perspective. A home nurse Amanda Perez made a Facebook post about how the misfortunes of one of her clients made her appreciate how lucky she was to have food on the table. “Lately I have been so upset because I wanted the materials in life,” wrote Perez. “New car, house, more clothes, shoes, etc.” While she was working at the home of one of her male patients, the man asked if Perez could clean his fridge. She was shocked to open the door and see nothing inside. Upon asking him where his food was, he “looked down as if he was ashamed” and said that he bought groceries whenever he had money to do so. “I have never seen a fridge so empty in my life,” said the home nurse. “All of a sudden, I realized how my needs are wants and his wants are needs.” Despite not having a lot of income of her own, Perez drove to the grocery store and used her income tax money to buy a cart full of food and stock her client’s fridge. “This isn’t a post to be noticed, this is a post to show you that there are so many people out there that have it worse than we do. I opened my eyes and realized I need to stop being so mad about what I don’t have and start appreciating what I do have.” At times, our feelings of depression stem from our attachment to our desires. By cultivating gratitude for what we already have and being willing to help others, we can significantly lighten the burdens of life.

Officer Jordan Gaiche was patrolling the neighborhood on a chilly Monday night when he saw a man walking down the sidewalk in a tee-shirt and shorts. Since the temperature was only 7º Fahrenheit, Gaiche pulled his cruiser over and asked the man if he needed any help. To his surprise, the man said that he was on his way to help a senior neighbor who had gotten stuck in his chair, “as he had done many times before.” The man asked if Gaiche could help them, and the Wausau, Wisconsin police officer readily agreed. “The elderly gentleman had gotten stuck in his recliner and appeared to be immobile and on oxygen,” says Gaiche. “It was evident that this chair was the place this man spent most of his time.” After he and the neighbor fixed the senior’s chair, Gaiche lamented the debilitated state of the recliner. “It had become more of a trap for injury rather than an assistive device,” wrote the police officer. “The neighbor looked up at the man’s wife and said: ‘I think it’s time you guys got a new chair.’ The wife sadly replied that she knew they needed a new chair, but could not afford one, as they [cost] around $2,000.” Upon finding out that the elderly man was also a Navy veteran who had served two tours in Vietnam, Gaiche was spurred to help. He told the vet’s wife to pick out a new armchair and he would cover the bill. Once she picked out a new recliner model, Gaiche made a quick post on Facebook to see if anyone would help him buy the chair. To his surprise, he received dozens of donations from folks all over the country. “Some of the people who donated, I have not seen for a decade… some I have never even met,” says Gaiche. “The amount of compassion that was displayed for this elderly veteran was so incredible,” he added. “The moral of this story is to look around you and see all of the great things that people are doing. This world is a good place. Turn off the negativity and focus on making the world just a little bit better.”

A father was prepared to return to Cleveland with his newborn daughter, but unforeseen circumstances left them stranded in Phoenix, Arizona. Fortunately, a compassionate stranger stepped in to assist. Rubin Swift had traveled from Ohio to Arizona to pick up his 4-day-old daughter, Ru-Andria, after gaining custody. Before embarking on the journey home, he contacted Frontier Airlines to confirm that his daughter could fly. The airline representative informed him that he needed to present her birth certificate and a doctor’s note from Banner University Medical Center, which confirmed she was fit to fly. However, upon arriving at the airport, Swift was informed that infants must be at least 7 days old to board the flight. With no funds left for a hotel and a refund for the tickets taking several days to process, he reached out to Joy Ringhofer for help. Ringhofer, a volunteer at the hospital’s NICU, had cared for Ru-Andria and felt an immediate connection with Swift. When he explained his predicament, she offered her home to them. “She opened her door without hesitation,” Swift recounted. “My color was never an issue. She loves my baby and held her all night. Who does that?” Ringhofer expressed her strong intuition to help, stating, “I knew he was a kind and safe man to have in my home, and he has been a perfect gentleman.” Swift and Ringhofer developed a bond, and she has since become an honorary grandmother to Ru-Andria. “He promised to come back and visit me, and I’m looking forward to that,” she said. May we never cease being compassionate to others.

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.