F. Scott Fitzgerald was right

So I have been continuing with my random acts and I love seeing the reactions of people when they receive a simple gesture of kindness. F. Scott Fitzgerald said it perfectly.

Since my last post I did a few more of the 26 acts. Again I was waiting until an opportunity presented itself. I read a story that really touched me and there it was my opportunity to help a perfect stranger.

I read online about Brandy Jones, a woman who had a fire in her apartment building in Manchester, New Hampshire. On February 5th, she was in the shower when smoke filled her apartment. She got out of the shower and immediately tried to find her pets. She grabbed her dog Sadie and put the leash on her and got out of the building. Sadie, a 2 year old pit bull mix, was so panicked she slipped her collar and was off and running. Sadie was nowhere to be found for days and then there were some sightings. Brandy searched for her even during the blizzard which was a few days later.

Brandy lost everything in the fire,her home, all her belongings. 3 cats, a bird, and a hamster. There were some sightings of Sadie and volunteers continued to search for her. Then the most devastating of news, Sadie's body was found in the wreckage of the building. She had apparently run back into the building and into the fire. The sighting were not of Sadie. She had been killed in the fire.

I cried when I read about Sadie and Brandy. The paper said donations of clothing and gift cards were being accepted so I sent a Target gift card to her along with a handwritten note. There is a fund in Sadie's name as well. I hope my gift card brought a smile to Brandy's face, she certainly deserves it. Act #6.

I was at the gas station the other day and the weather was just miserable, cold and rainy. It was a full service station so I didn't have to pump my own gas. The attendant works all hours of the day and in the worst of weather conditions and always greets me with a smile. He is such a positive sweet man. So when I paid for the gas I gave him a Dunkin Donuts gift card so he could get himself something warm to drink. He was thrilled and it was so nice to see the smile I brought to his face. Act #7.

On Twitter, I follow a woman named Nicole Martin who writes a tea blog called Tea for Me Please. She tweeted about an organization called Kiva and she said she made a loan to a tea farmer. Kiva gives loans to people all over the world by collecting donations. It is a cool concept. They were having a free trial and the other Kiva members donated money so new members would join. So I loaned Percy $25. It went to his bathroom fund and didn't cost me anything. When I joined Kiva I selected Nicole's team so Nicole was awarded another $25 and she made a loan to a second tea farmer since that is her interest.

I checked out all the possible borrowers and  I decided to pick a loan recipient who needed a house loan.  After all, I work as a mortgage originator so housing is my thing.  I looked at all the housing loan possibilities. I wanted to find someone who had an achievable goal. There was a person who was at 37% of his goal. So meet Percy, he lives in Peru. He needs to build a bathroom in his house. I was able to donate $25 towards the $675. he needs. And how cool is that? His name is Percy! My little Percy cat would be proud. Act #8

The last act of the week was at a Starbucks in Reading, MA. I had 5 gift cards of $5 each. I wanted to hand them out but there was always a line of more than 5 people. I want to make people happy not tick them off.

I ordered my drink and suddenly just 3 people in line. 3 men of different ages. I said to each one, " I am buying your coffee today" as I handed them the card. They were shocked. Then they smiled and the last guy said, "You really don't have to". I said, "I know but I want to".  He had the biggest smile on his face as I walked past him and out the door. Mission accomplished. Act #9

What an adrenaline rush! I get such a high from each one of these acts.  After I complete the 26 acts I will continue my acts of kindness for sure! And if you want to be kind and donate to Brandy or Sadie's fund please email me and I will send you the info.

The beginning acts- #26acts

Remember I mentioned that I had committed to doing 26 acts of kindness?  Here's the post about it. Well I had only done one act until recently. I wanted the acts to really mean something and bring joy to the recipient so I've been taking my time and really thinking about it.

Here are acts 1-5:

1. Bought items and a cake for a birthday party for a child living in a homeless shelter.

2. Gave the guy selling newspapers outside of Dunkin Donuts a gift card. It was snowing that Sunday morning and he was clearly freezing. I thought a warm drink would do the trick but since I didn't know if he was a coffee drinker I gave him a gift card.  As I walked out, I handed him the gift card and I just said, " Coffee's on me".

3. I was driving down a street in Melrose when I saw an older woman taking groceries out of her car. She left her trunk open and headed into the house. She walked unsteadily on her snowy walk. I stopped my car behind hers and grabbed the remaining bags of groceries and closed the trunk. I carried the groceries up her front steps and put them on the top step. She was surprised to see them when she came out of the house. She thought I was a neighbor and when I said, "No, I was just driving by". She smiled and said, "Thank you dear."

4. I was doing some sales calls and I stopped for lunch at the Blue Moon Grill in Wakefield. An older woman came in and sat at a corner table by herself. The waitress brought her a menu and she ordered a salad. I decided I was going to pay for her lunch. I was almost finished and ready to pay for my meal. I overheard the woman ask the waitress if she could change her mind. I waited while she made her selection of chicken cacciatore.  The waitress gave me my check and I asked her to add the woman's meal to my bill.  She said, "Really?" She was stunned. I said, "Yes." The waitress asked if I knew the woman. I said, "No". She said, "That is wicked nice of you". I had the waitress tell the woman her check was paid after I left the restaurant. I would have loved to see her reaction but I didn't want to make a big deal of it.

5. I heard about an organization called Granite State Dog Recovery.  They are comprised of a group of volunteers who help people find their lost dogs. They do really good work and they have helped reunite a lot of dogs with their families. There is a dog who is missing in my hometown and they have been helping coordinate the search. Anyway, last week the organization had a really bad week. They had to report that one of the missing dogs was hit by a train and another one died from injuries from a fight with a neighbor's dogs. Then they found out that a woman had urinated on a feeding station they had set up for one of the lost dogs. She destroyed a blanket and the dog's food. And then someone stole one of the have a heart traps. The trap was for a large dog and it was a bolted to the ground.  Someone actually used bolt cutters to steal the trap! So, I donated enough money to purchase a new large dog trap and actually six people donated traps that day.  So something good came from all the bad.

I have to say it really does make you feel good to do something nice for perfect strangers. Most of the recipients are shocked by acts of kindness. That's kind of sad, don't you think?

I have not set a deadline for completion of the 26 acts. I think I will just contribute if and when there is a need.