Acts of kindness. Come share your experiences please to cheer me up.

[dontevenblink]

So it's pretty crap here at the moment. The small town I live in (not in UK) has had its entire water supply infected with campylobacter(sp) and there are thousands here who are very ill. DH has been ill since Thursday and has lost 4kg, dc4 who is 23 months was up screaming most of last night as her tummy hurt, the others have temperatures. I have a fairly mild case luckily but still not good... Schools and kindys are shut, there were 360 away from school on Monday

BUT in amongst this there have been some lovely moments of kindness. Yesterday we had a knock on the door and was a local cafe delivering us food for dinner for free as one of DHs colleagues had nominated us knowing we have 4 young dc and no family here. I cried! They delivered food to over 200 families out of their own pocket. And just now we had another knock on the door and was a company bringing probiotic juice drinks round the neighbourhood A local store owner has paid for a water tanker out of his own pocket so locals could have free clean water as he saw so many people trying to buy water as the council didn't provide it quick enough. The local young orchards group is giving out free bags of apples later. The local sikh community is handing out bottles of water in the village centre. Its times like this you really see how amazing people can be.

Has anyone else got any tales of acts of kindness to cheer me up more?

[dontevenblink]

And I've just opened the front door and found someone's left a 10l box of water for us

[reallybadidea]

Wow! That's so kind. I love stories like this (kindness, not sickness I mean!)

Hope you're all better soon

[ShotsFired]

Not quite on your scale OP, but I was once waiting for a train at a large interchange station and spotted a young woman crying.

I went over to her and gave her a tissue and she explained that her partner had dumped her, she had left in a rush and was trying to get back home to her mum, but she was so stressed and upset she had no idea what train, platform, anything.

So she got a big hug to keep her going till she got home, and clear directions about what train to get from what platform, which was over there

Every time I pass through that station I think about her. I hope she got back to her mum ok.

[pollyglot]

Don'tevenblink - I am a compatriot of yours and have been following the events of the infection in the media. I can't begin to imagine how awful it must have been, and still must be in HN. But how lovely to hear how the community has pulled together and how much kindness is evident. This is what Kiwis do best - caring and kindliness. We're a great people, truly!

[LifeIsGoodish]

Oh that sounds both truly awful and truly kind.

Only a tiny thing from me, but it has stayed with me for its consequence:

One summer evening when ds was 6, we were walking along when the ball of ice-cream fell out of his cone. I commiserated, but it was really a bit of an "Oh, well. Nothing much we can do about it" moment.

An elderly, very shabby passerby stopped and gave ds a coin the equivalent of £5. I tried to refuse it (he looked like he needed it far more than we did) explaining that sometimes children need to learn to cope with disappointment, and besides the shops were shut, but I didn't get to that last bit, because the man said - sweetly, but firmly - "children don't need to be unhappy."

So I allowed ds to accept the coin.

The following day ds bought an ice-cream, and, unprompted, put all the change in a charity box. He insisted we look for a charity that helped children, as the man had said "children don't need to be unhappy."

Hope you all recover soon, and that the sense of community in your town grows ever stronger and warmer.

[dontevenblink]

How nice you helped her shots, I bet she really remembered that!

Pollyglot kiwis are indeed some great people ( my DC included ) especially in small communities like this, you really get to know people. We moved not to long ago from Christchurch where we saw some great community spirit too, although I was hoping for a bit more peaceful life here! Earthquakes for poisoning...

Funny old day, it was the local radio station dropping off juice, and turns out it was one of my dh's colleagues that had gone into the Centre where the local Sikh community centre were giving away boxes of water and then had driven round leaving them on people's doorsteps. Also had the red cross come to the door to ask how many in our house were ill and if we were OK. Estimates having surveyed about half the town was about 4000 ill out of about 13000, but I suspect it will be bigger. It's nice to know people are thinking of you with all this going on It is a horrible bug... Schools now closed until next week.

Anyone else want to share some stories to take my mind off my head and stomach? (Sorry if tmi!)

[dontevenblink]

Oh 'lifeisgoodish* that has really cheered me up, how lovely! And how amazing of your ds to put the money in the charity box

[FaithAscending]

Mine is really little (I'm ill so want cheering up so can contribute and then see the thread ongoing!).

I was queuing up with an envelope to buy stamps. The lady behind me in the queue said Oh, do you just need a stamp? I've got one and gave me one! Might seem like a small thing but I was really touched!

Hope it all settles down for you soon dont.

[dontevenblink]

faith it's little things like that that you really remember and makes you smile though doesn't it Hope you feel better soon too.

[SlinkyVagabond]

I hope everyone recovers quickly blink and what a wonderful community.
Mine is only little (but little things are the ones that stick) My DM died a couple of years ago, id had nights of sitting up and felt and looked terrible, but I couldn't settle so went to town to sort her bank and stuff out. I was just wandering around big department store in a daze when a lady on one of the counters (deleor) asked me if if was ok. I must have started crying, she sat me down, got me water, listened to me, then got some stuff out, took my hands and started gently massaging them. I just felt all the built up tension eke away while I talked.She then got a big bag of samples of all her products and others brands round her and gave them to me. There was a voucher for a free massage in there too. I was so grateful for the kind words of this stranger, who took time out of her working day. I went back a few weeks later to thank her and she'd moved to another store, but if you are reading this-thank you.

[dontevenblink]

That sounds like a really big thing slinky how lovely of that woman. It's lovely to know there are some really great people out there. Shame you didn't get to say thank you. As soon as we're better I'm going to go to the cafe that delivered out good and let them know what a big difference it made to us and how grateful we were.

It is a great community, the day we moved into our house one of the mums from kindergarten turned up unexpected with dinner for us, it made such a difference to us.

[Handsupbabyhandsup]

Another kiwi here - just wanted to say that I hope you (and your family) feel better soon and that there are lessons that are learned from this that will stop it happening in another town. It's heartening to hear that your community is pulling together x

[MrsHathaway]

What a fantastic community you live in!

I like to visit Not Always Hopeless for moments of beauty and unprompted kindness. I think you'd like it.

The following day ds bought an ice-cream, and, unprompted, put all the change in a charity box. He insisted we look for a charity that helped children, as the man had said "children don't need to be unhappy."

::blub::

[dontevenblink]

Thanks handsup! I really hope they do learn from this, and I do think they will, as I'd hate to think of it happening again. There is a lot of investigation going on and debates in parliament so hopefully they'll get to the bottom (no pun ha!) of it soon. It never ever occurred to me that water out the taps wouldn't be safe to drink, you really take it for granted. I am seriously considering sticking to bottled water permanently now.

[dontevenblink]

Thanks Mrshathaway I'll have a look at that

Yes that made me well up too!

[Felco]

What a gorgeous thread. No honestly, I've just got something in my eye

[dontevenblink]

[dontevenblink]

It's made me think about after the Christchurch earthquake where people were amazing about helping out and fundraising for a long time after. Lots of acts of kindness. Strangers offered their homes for Christchurch people to have a weekend away and university students helped clear the silt from the streets whilst students from other cities raised money and sent meals. Theres a lot of negative stuff in the news about people but its nice to remember there is a lot of good too.

My recent (non crisis ) one was when dd2 was having a complete meltdown on the way out of the supermarket and I was struggling to push the loaded trolley, a lovely lady offered to push it to the car for me and she even insisted in helping me unpack. That made my week

[CuppaSarah]

I hope you're all feeling better soon. It sounds awful, but amazing to see how great the community is.

Ive told mine before, but when dd was a toddler, we were on the tube. It was getting busy, she was tired. She started crying, people were getting annoyed and moving away. I got stressed out and couldn't calm her.

Then the woman opposite me scooped her up calmly and popped her on the seat next to her. She chatted to dd and dd instantly calmed down and started chatting away. She then told me she had three girls and not to worry about her getting upset. I quietly cried with relief. Honestly she was so calm and lovely, she seemed magic.

[pollyglot]

I know of a couple (who hate publicity and so do all their kind deeds anonymously), who realised the needs of poor children in their country town. This was before the advent of government or council initiatives to ensure that all children are properly fed. They began a breakfast club, buying food with their own money, and later getting supermarkets on board to help out. When left a considerable amount of money on the death of an elderly relative, rather than spending it on luxuries, or investing it for their own and their children's futures, with the blessing of the whole family, they bought a house, which they turned into a "safe house" for kids after school. There, kids could go for supervised care, food and homework support, if they had nowhere to go. Business and volunteers gave resources and time. People like this don't win medals and gongs - public acknowledgement goes to the self-seeking. But such people are truly the heroes of society.

[dontevenblink]

Totally agree pollyglot it is those people that don't want recognition that are often the most generous, doing it to help rather than for themselves. They sound like amazing people! And cuppa those tantrums always seem horrendous, thank goodness for that woman!

I was just watching the footage of the kiwi runner helping the US one at the olympics (NZ media has obviously been playing it a lot ) an thought of this thread.

[dontevenblink]

i.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/83248381/rio-olympics-2016-nikki-hamblin-abbey-dagostino-epitomise-the-olympic-spirit

[CheekyMcgee]

What a lovely thread!

[LikeIGiveAFrock]

This little short lovely thread should go in to classics
Beautiful

[Shakey15000]

The other week I was running for the bus and saw a woman in a manual wheelchair about to attempt to wheel herself up the bridge. I said to her "I'm sure you can manage but would you let me wheel you up?" and she did

Missed the bus and my prolapses weren't grateful but it felt good to put it in my "Pay it forward" bank.