Describe a simple act of kindness you have done for someone down on their luck.

[Lil Missy]

Here's one example of mine:

Many years ago, I noticed this homeless lady every morning as I drove to work. Every single day! I pulled over one day and talked to her.

She was a very pleasant and polite lady, and told me she had found a place to sleep at night, and knew where to get food. She thanked me for the visit and said she was doing just fine. As I left, she made an off hand joke that she missed her morning cup of coffee.

It began to bother me that I could do SOMETHING! So, I bought some paper cups, and stopped by to give her a cup of coffee every morning on my way to work.

She was way too very proud for conversation about it, and I really was not looking for a big hug or a thank you every day. I gave her the cup of coffee, and we said hi and goodbye. I got back into my car and proceeded on to work.

One day, as the weather was getting more chilly, I gave her a sweater that I said I had no more use for. She put it on right away, and I felt like I saw a little more glitter in her eyes. She took the cup of coffee and thanked me as usual, and I went on my way to work.

After a while, she disappeared. I've always wondered what happened with her.

[Ysabel]

1. i don't like talking much about what i do for others...

it feels strange to me to do so...

- however this is one of the groups that i very much support:

http://www.bookstoprisoners.net/

----------

p.s. posting the seattle link cuz that's where it started but there are many branches now...

[Lil Missy]

4. The greatest acts of kindness and charity are anonymous ones.

:hug:

[mdmc]

2. I vote

democratic, mostly.

I vote with those down on their luck on my mind.

[davsand]

3. I tipped somebody else's waitress at Waffle House.

I'm STILL pissed off about this one...

Took my family to a Waffle House when we were on vacation in Alabama. There was a sign on the door as we went in saying the credit card machine was not working and it was cash only, sorry for the inconvenience.

We were sitting there experiencing Waffle House, and some woman with black roots and bad tats storms up to the cash register and starts SCREAMING at them about the fact that she had no way to pay her bill if they were not taking credit cards. They explain the credit card machine had broken that morning and that there was a sign on the door as you came in (the ONLY door, I might add...) that warns they are not taking credit cards. She says she never saw it.

The woman starts screaming even louder. It is obvious that she is just trying to skate on her bill. They get the manager who tells her she can write a check. She tells him she has no checks with her. He asks if she has ANY cash at all. Nope, no cash. Finally, after much screaming on the part of the woman, he tells her she can come back the next day and pay.

The woman leaves--along with the other three people on that ticket...

The waits immediately turn on the manager and ask WHY he let that woman skate. They ask why he didn't take down her Driver's License number, at least. They ask if he ever considered calling the police. One wait just bursts into tears...

Come to find out the woman and her pals were the customers from hell, and they ran that wait to death changing orders and spilling crap--they were even throwing food at one point. I find out that the wait who was crying also (according to our wait, anyway) is a single mom that they all feel sorry for.

When we left I tipped out our wait and then I walked up to the manager. I handed him a ten--in full view of the other waits--and I ask him to make sure and give that to the wait that got stiffed by that woman who had skated on her bill.



Laura

[Seedersandleechers]

5. You are a good women

I routinely over tip waitresses because they make so little.

[LeftyMom]

6. I bought a bag of dog food today

There's a homeless couple who park their raggedy little motorhome pretty near where my Dad lives. They have a dog, and they've clearly barely got the resources to get themselves fed, so when I've got a few bucks and a little time I drop by with a bag of dog food. Since I've been doing that, the dog's put some weight on- before you could see her ribs.

Which reminds me, I should print out the info on where to go for cheap or free altering and shots, because I highly doubt they've done either, and they do care about the dog.

[Lil Missy]

12. Oh man, I love pet stories.

When I first bought this house, I had some absolutely disgusting neighbors next door to me.

They were selling and using hard drugs. Neither of them had teeth! Or the few snags they had were rotten.

They had a couple guard dogs in the back yard. Both dogs were vicious and mean, and were being used to alert the guy when people doing drug buys came by their back door. The dogs were on short chain, so they could not reach to harm a drug buyer. This went on all day and night.

These dogs rarely got food or water.

The people next door were finally evicted. (Not to mention they plugged into MY outdoor electricity outlet for lights when their electricity was shut off. Boy, was THAT a big bill!)

Anyways, while the landlord was clearing everything out of the house when the time limit for them to get out was over, the crazy woman with no teeth came knocking on my door asking for money to buy food.

I gave her food instead of money. I asked her what they planned to do with the dogs in the back yard. She said, OMG, they are my babies! I would never abandon them!

She left with the food I gave her, and I saw her toss it in the garbage the landlord left outside. I noticed the next day that the dogs were still chained in the back yard. These dogs were mean, an you couldn't go near them. They also looked like skin and bones.

I had a bag of cat food that I dumped over the fence for them. They acted like they had not eaten for a week! I also set a bucket of water over the fence that they could reach.

So much for her saying she would never abandon her "babies". They were still there the next day. And mind you, these dogs were mean, and you don't dare approach them. I poured my other bag of dog food over the fence, and gave them another bucket of water.

Then I went back to my house and called animal control. The dogs were gone the next day.

And BTW, some people driving by looking for treasures in eviction garbage were horrified to open a garbage bag and find dead bats. LOL! Serve you right if you go looking through garbage bags, LOL!

[Breeze54]

7. Many, many things over the years....

From buying someone a meal, lending someone $$ and taking in a homeless Mom and son.

I believe in Karma. ;)

[Lorien]

8. Helped organize a charity drive for Katrina survivors and their pets

We filled 9 rental trucks with supplies and got a team of vets to go with the convoy, along with two cops (they went to an area that had not services-so it was a bit dangerous). I raised about $25,000 on my own and filled two 25 x 15' storage lockers with supplies. People were very generous!

[Breeze54]

10. Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!!!!!!!!!!!

:wow:

:hug:

[Inspired]

9. I gave a co-worker $100.00.

I just happened to have some extra cash on hand and it seemed the right thing to do.

[AnneD]

11. The most recent....

gave someone out of work $150 so she could keep up her license. Covered an expense for someone undergoing chemo and couldn't afford it. And I always give a really big check for our Thanksgiving food drive (I am up to 6 families and want to make at least 8 this year). I like to do lots of little, well thought out things. I get lots of bang for the buck.

[Madrone]

13. It wasn't a "simple" kindness by any stretch - but probably the biggest...

I took a young addict I didn't know off the street and clothed her, fed her, paid her court fines every month, and every other imaginable thing someone with $0 income needs not just to survive but to be comfortable. I took her to Austin to see GOPisEvil on her birthday last June, and she was a complete and total Princess for that week. She lived with me for a year. Didn't work out as I would have liked - but after all's said and done it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Mainly I just wish she'd done something with the numerous opportunities she was presented with.

[Lil Missy]

14. That's a LOT, Madrone.

Kudos to you! :hug:

Even if it didn't work out in the end, you planted a very big seed that might grow later.

[Madrone]

15. Thankfully, I didn't have to do it alone.

Some friends were inspired by the situation, and I received some...shall we call it... "Child Support" from other sources while she lived here to help cover her needs and increased expenses. It ended up being a group effort. :)

She's a wonderful kid - and if you knew the HALF of her story you'd be disgusted and shocked. She's been through a lot. She deserved the chance - she'd never been given one before. Nor had she ever been safe in her life until that point. Part of it not working out was her not knowing how to deal with being treated like she deserves. We didn't talk for a long time after she stormed out - months actually. We do now, however. In fact, she sometimes calls me a few times a day, just to tell me some thing that just happened or that she just did. She's funny.

I LOVE your story about the homeless woman, btw. It warms my heart to know there are people like you out there. :hug: backatchya!

[Lil Missy]

18. I can relate to that, several times over.

It IS very difficult to adapt to being treated well, when you are used to being treated like shit. I have seen this played over a hundred times.

I am glad you appreciated my experience with the homeless woman. I think that in a spiritual sense, she gave a lot more to me than I did to her.

She taught me a big lesson. She wanted nothing from me in a material way. But a friendly visit allowing her respect and dignity was welcome. Thus, handing her a cup of hot coffee was an acceptable and friendly gesture.

[undeterred]

16. One day the buses were out of service because of a fire

at the bus terminal. I just happened to hear this on the radio while I was driving. Then I saw a woman standing at a bus stop. So I pulled over and told her the buses weren't running. She was waiting for a bus to go to work, about 4 miles away. I gave her a ride so she would get there on time.

[Lil Missy]

17. That was very kind of you.

:)

I've been the recipient of random acts of kindness myself. And, I like to pass it back around when I can.

:hi:

[flvegan]

19. My mailman

told me the other day that he was very surprised by my donations to the postal foodbank thing they did recently. I had two big bags out there, much of it of the meat variety. I had tuna, and beef stew and all kinds of shit in there. He said that he thought I was vegan and didn't eat any of that stuff. I said he was right, but I'd not buy into something without considering the needs and requests of the folks involved.

So there you have it, I sold myself out. Set myself up for ridicule in my circle. That's okay, cuz folks ate.

[Lil Missy]

21. BLASPHEMY! You're a total heathen!

You are DEAD to me!




Okay, I got over it now.

:P

[SeattleGirl]

23. You are a good person, flvegan

You don't seem to judge others for their choices in food, and I hope you don't get people judging you.

[Angel]

20. Paying back what someone once did for me

I am a pharmacy tech, someone once paid for my medication that I could not afford at the time. No surprise that we get a lot of people who simply can not afford the medications that they need. Once a month I pay for someone's medication who can not afford it. Having a small co-pay of even 5 -10 dollars sometimes has the person deciding if they eat or take their meds. It isn't much but at least that person can sleep a little easier if they don't have to make that decision.

[Lil Missy]

24. I can recall being in that position

I had some meds that I absolutely had to take, but could not afford. My physician set me up with samples till I got back on my feet financially. Whew!

[kat_kringle]

22. well, i had a manager at a prior job...

who had two children, and no money for christmas presents for them. so, another manager privately asked most of the employees if they'd be interested in donating money, i put 20 dollars in for the presents, which was quite a bit, and i suppose still is, a lot of money to me.

anyways, it was unfortunate, that the manager who collected the money, took all the credit for the gifts bought with the money. (after he got the $$, he picked out gifts, according to a list, and then told the mother, that it was all from him).

i don't need credit for what i did, but it shouldn't have ended up that way, you know?

**added upon edit: i should be satisfied with the knowledge that my managers two children had a wonderful christmas day, and not ponder on how the presents got there, and who they were "from".

[Lil Missy]

25. No. I think you are justified to be annoyed.

It's one thing to give an anonymous gift.

But it is quite another matter to pitch in, and have some asshole take the entire credit for contributions made by several others.

[Skittles]

26. I do something almost every day

yesterday I saw a bunch of "high bouncy balls" that are like snow globes and when the glitter clears there's a Disney character in there - they were in the bargain bin for a buck a piece - I bought all 26 of them and mailed them to soldiers in Iraq to toss to Iraqi kids they see on their rounds

[Lil Missy]

27. You are a Saint when it comes to supporting the troops.

I'm not askert of you.

Well, maybe a little. :scared:

:P

[Skittles]

30. alright then get this, Missy

Thursday I dontated platelets (blood product used by chemo patients) - after they stuck the needle in my arm there was a fubar with how the line ran through the machine so they pulled the needle out and inserted a new needle into my OTHER ARM - then WHILE I was on that machine for 90 minutes, one of the blood techs asked if I could come back next week to donate a pint of whole blood due to an extreme shortage (combination of summer time and gas prices) - and I said YES. That's either Sainthood or Insanity. :D

[Lil Missy]

31. Good for you! Skittles!

I donate blood too. They call to make appointments regularly because I am negative for the epstein bar virus, or whatever it is called. They really like that for some reason.

[Skittles]

33. I think that means your blood can be tranfused into babies

I think :)

[Bullwinkle925]

28. gave a homeless man some food today in SF.

that's all.

[Lil Missy]

29. That's lot! Bullwinkle.

One time I saw a man holding a sign that said, "Will work for food" He looked like skin and bones.

I went to the nearest burger joint and bought three burgers, and drove back there to give them to him.

It was just a stop light, but I swear he devoured the first one before the red light even changed.

[Lethe]

32. this jackass was playing Ken

and he had the balls to do a crossup combo on me. I totally laid that bitch out in one big combo after that.

[Lil Missy]

34. Wait...what? Is Ken a card game??

I don't know WTF you are talking about??

:shrug:

[Lethe]

35. Street Fighter 2 Turbo

This ass totally tries to pwn me with Ken.

I cannot be stopped with Ryu.

[Lil Missy]

36. Okay, But I am still not sure I understand that either.

Perhaps I am just obtuse.

But how does this relate to the topic in my original post?

[Lethe]

37. oh it doesn't

sorry :(

[Lil Missy]

38. Okay, No worries.

[Rhythm]

39. When i had a car, i was the 'phantom taxi'

I'd see people walking in places that weren't all that safe to walk (no sidewalks on busy streets, etc...) or who were burdened down carrying heavy loads of stuff, and pull over and drive them to wherever they were going. Sometimes they were people who's cars had broken down, and they had no money for cab fare... others were homeless people who were on the way to our overnight shelter downtown. One was something of a crazy peddler, and gave me a little flag pin for my troubles. I kept it in the car until the car died last year.

I also still give money or food to people panhandling i encounter... don't care if it's a scam or not. Better to help all including the scammers than to ignore a real need.

[Lil Missy]

40. I give a few bucks, (or sometimes, food) to panhandlers too.

If they end up spending it on booze, I figure what the hell. If I were in the same position, I'd probably want some beer or other booze too.