I can’t begin this post without thanking the 50+ people who donated to this year’s Kindness Project. The idea of a group of strangers coming together with the soul intent to make a person’s day special without an agenda is what this world needs these days. Collectively, we raised $2,000 to be given as two acts of kindness.
Last night, a friend and I ventured out around 9pm, with two envelopes stuffed with cash in tow, to see who would cross our path. We started at a diner where we had an extremely sweet, young mom serving us with the sweetest smile. She told us she had to work Christmas day and her kids were not happy about it. When it was time to pay, we gave her a card that explained The Kindness Project, which she tucked away in her apron without opening it, thanked us graciously and continued working her tushy off. My friend and I looked at each other in panic because I still had the cash to give her. After a few moments, we encouraged her to take a second and read the card, which she did off to the side. I waved her over to hand her the cash envelope and she BEAMED and gave us the warmest thank you. We both recognized she appreciated her privacy, which we respected, and quickly left.
Our next stop was more to collect our thoughts on where we wanted to venture for our next good deed. We were brainstorming several places across town but were indecisive. When we walked into this particular restaurant, we sat in open seating by the bar with our minds spinning. While we waited for our server to come over, we both looked over at this older gentlemen who literally ran over to bus tables surrounding us. He was on a mission and his hustle caught both our attentions immediately. My friend looked at me and said “HIM.” And I knew she was right. As I was fumbling for the card and cash, our server walked up to greet us. We looked at each other, flustered, wondering if it was unfair to select someone other than our waitress at that point. She walked away briefly, and I leaned over and set the envelope on his bussing tray and quickly sat back down. Our waitress returned to take our drink orders at the exact same time this man looked at me with utter confusion. It didn’t take long for him to notice the number printed on the envelope and looked at me, just briefly, and let out a “WHOOHOO.” This all happened in five seconds or less. Our waitress left to put in our drink orders and my friend and I let out a sigh. It was done.
A few minutes later, our waitress came back, her eyes welling up in tears. She said the man had just showed her what we gave him and she couldn’t believe she was witness to such a random act of kindness. I gave her the back story of The Kindness Project and how this little gesture was backed by a crowd. She explained that the man was hearing impaired, physically disabled, living in a hotel and showed up every single day to go above and beyond at work. She couldn’t think of a single person who was more deserving of the gift. She said the man had trouble with communication, other than some sign language, but was showing EVERYONE in back of house and just about everyone was in tears over it. He never looked our way again that night as he gave even more effort to his work that night, but we knew he was HIGHLY impacted and appreciated it more than words could describe anyway.
While I would have loved to share a video of all of this playing out, sometimes you have to stay present to really connect with someone and that’s what this whole thing is about. Two people shined a little brighter last night thanks to you. I’m so glad God brought them in our path to be this year’s recipients of The Kindness Project.
Until next year!
