Random Acts of Kindness

When I volunteered to accept the "Acts Of Kindness" duty for the week I had a couple of thoughts in mind. I go to Blenz Coffee in Coquitlam Centre fairly often as they have free wireless Internet service and had noticed a couple of people with handicaps that came regularly. My thought was I could give each of them a gift card. It turned out there was $19.54 collected that day so I bought 3 gift cards of $5 and then wondered what to do with the remaining $4.54. I was sitting in Blenz when a lady brought her elderly Mom and Dad in for a coffee. She told them a story about finding $10 on the floor of a bank and locating the owner. She said how disappointed she was when the man didn't even thank her so I leaned over to their table and gave her a gift card explaining what it was all about and that I wanted to thank her on behalf of all Rotarians. I asked the owner of Blenz about the handicapped people and he told me they hadn't come in for a while and he felt something must have happened. So I wondered what I'd do with the other cards It turned out that a young boy (about 4) came in to Blenz a couple of days later and while Mom with another in a carriage and Dad were getting coffee he came looking for a table. The only one left was beside me and he politely asked if they could it there. I said sure and he thanked me. Then as he was drinking his drink he accidentally spilled it and was very upset. So that's where gift card #2 went. Again I explained why and had about 6 "thank you's" before the family left. The third gift card went to a young mother who's little girl was again super polite and very helpful of her mother carrying items to the table and excusing herself when she bumped into my table without prompts from Mom to do so. I still had $4.54 left so I added a couple of bucks and bought a bouquet of miniature roses. I went to the mall and as I walk through I looked for mothers who were frazzled from dealing with their kids while shopping but weren't yelling at them but trying to remain cool. I would give them a single miniature rose and again explain why. I think that was the most rewarding of the four things I did and it showed me just how many smiles $20 worth of kind acts can bring. Orland Lee