To ask for random acts of kindness that you've carried out...

[IchWill]

I believe that kindness breeds kindness. I often carry out random acts of kindness, because:

1. If I'm able to, why wouldn't I?
2. The world would be a nicer place if we all helped others out more often.
3. It makes me feel good to make a positive impact on someone's life.

Most I go about and do quietly, genuinely not helping people for recognition or glory, but when I have shared one or two examples with friends, they've said I've inspired them.

Let's hear your random acts of kindness...

Ds and I often have raok days where we look for good deeds to do around the neighbourhood and someone has started a movement in our office too.

In the last couple of weeks I've had left on my desk a new mug, a sandwich (when I was stuck in a meeting and missed the sandwich delivery slot) and some chocs.
I've left sweets and biscuits for someone else so far.

One of the nursery nurses at my sons nursery was pregnant, she was only young and on her own. In conversation with another member of staff we found out that she was panicking about buying all the things she needed so we asked if she wanted all the things we’d been planning to eBay(didn’t tell her that was where they were heading, jst said we’d finshed with them) so she got a car seat and isofix, sleepyhead, perfect prep and lots of other big ticket baby items.

I work with the general public and I always make time to chat to people, I don’t know if I’m the only person they’re going to speak to today so I make an effort.

It costs nothing to be nice and we should all make effort

I helped scoop some poor old guy out of the road when he toppled off his mobility scooter (I'd seen him around before and he drives like a nutter). I then walked home with him and checked he was ok. Made him promise he'd call the doctor if he started to feel unwell.

Stopped a young blood-covered guy in the street and asked what had happened as everyone else was ignoring him. He'd had a fight and had a head wound. I called police and ambulance and stayed with him till they came. Also rang his mum as he had lost his phone.

Helped a partially sighted guy on the tube who had been caught out by engineering works. Saw him to the concourse of a mainline station where he was due to meet his daughter. Had a lovely chat at the same time.,

Carried an old lady's suitcase through a busy station.

Gave a guy a euro for a metro ticket in Rome as he didn't have change.

Numerous directions to lost tourists in London. Saved a group of Italian students on the wrong train because I overheard their panicked conversation when they realised they'd made a mistake.

I'm probably actually nicer to strangers than to people I know!

Not a ROAK from myself but towards me. I was in Manchester after attending my sign language class. I'd offered to give a classmate a lift home but got to the car and my tyre was as flat as a pancake. It was also raining heavily. I had no idea how to change a tyre - it was my first car. A foreign man who didn't speak any English, walked up to my car and just changed my tyre and then walked off. I was so thankful. He was like my guardian angel!

Eating out at a restaurant, at an adjacent table were parents with 4 children. Their young boy (probably about 3) kept looking over the back of his seat and smiling at me. It warmed my heart.

I called over their server while they were preoccupied and paid for their meal, adding extra in case they wanted pudding later. I added a gratuity for the server, too - so if they chose to leave one as well, it would be a bonus for her.

I left before they finished their meal, so they didn't know who paid.

Brightened up a very dark period in my life.

i always offer my unused pay and display ticket to others
i donate food to the food bank as often as i can afford (v low income)
i volunteer for a charity on Saturdays and one day per week (declared)
i always share any reductions I buy in supermarkets with family, colleagues, neighbours
i give up my seat on buses to anyone in need
Give hot food for the homeless and include sanitary items if neces.
I paid for an family who speak little English but very hard working and are living in a rundown HMO to buy their weekly shop, drove them to a city where there could access Poundshops and Aldi and gave them time to reimburse me
Liaised with charity and benefactors to raise funds for a duvet, household items, kettle, toaster, saucepans, new sets of clothes, footwear, learning packs and for their toddler.
Helped find them safer alternative housing
Donate to charity where i can

There's always someone worse off than you and I am very grateful for all the good luck and comfort I have.

Didn't have time to stop on a very fast road near farm on Wednesday when we saw horse laying down in the rain, no coat and other horse standing over him. Rang RSPCA to check if this is normal and was worried horse had died. Advised that this is normal for REM sleep in horses but wanted to give address to check welfare just incase.

and took in an emaciated, abandoned cat on Christmas Eve, family and I went door knocking to find owner put up messages online to find owner to no avail, kept him watered and fed (nice fat turkey slices) and gave him cardboard box & hot water bottle in the porch until after Christmas when the Vets opened day after Boxing Day got him scanned - no chip! Vet checked him over, and wormed and de-ticked and rehomed him. Went to visit him in his new home. One happy, plump cat

A cat's not just for life, it's for Christmas too

I do what I can when i can.

But couple of things done for me recently, I was in A&E with my poorly toddler, another mum bought me a drink & sweets, absolutely amazing, I'd been sat in the same seat for about 3 hrs with LO on my knee.
LO ended up being admitted at the end of her stay, was crying the whole time I was packing bags, just wanted in my arms. I knew I couldn't carry LO and bags so thought take bags come back for her when another Dad offered to help. I almost cried with relief.

Nice act of kindness someone did for me was buy me a bottle of booze at the Sainsbury’s till at Brixton when I didn’t have ID and they refused me. She grabbed it from me, swiped paid and handed it back to me. Clearly could see I was well over 18. Wouldnt hear of me paying, was a lovely heartwarming thing to do near Xmas. I will hopefully get to do it for someone else.

A biggish one was dh really. On a business trip flight from Cairo he sat next to an elderly Egyptian woman - evidently not well off - who was on her way to relatives in Canada. But her onward flight (different airline) was badly delayed and she was in a tizz about where to spend the night, since couldn't afford a hotel.
Phone call from dh, he was bringing her home with him - we don't live too far from Heathrow - and I took her back to the airport next day. She was full of blessings from Allah for us - TBH I am British enough to have found it just a mite embarrassing since it wasn't really a big deal for us.

Have just read this story, a lovely act of kindness by the man at Royal Mail, I seem to have something in my eye at the moment.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-46386387

I appreciate random kindness. I had a very kind email this week brought me to tears. I have fibromyalgia and am currently losing my home and the job that goes with it. I have a partner but I am very frightened , stressed and in physical pain. I have also been bullied here quite badly and even stalked on the internet to check up on me that was still doing my job.

Anyway, I got a very kind kind kind email ... unexpected kindness.

I often do kind things and often its just saying something supportive.

I was a carer for a very young child who became ill and was dying..The week she died I didn't put in an invoice to be paid..How could you get paid for doing something so wonderful and her parents sharing their precious child with you. I cared for her until half an hour before she died. It was an honour. (I have never told anyone this)

I was thinking about this on my way home last night and realised how many ROAKs towards me have been transport-related:

• the taxi driver who refused a tip as he knew I was a student from my destination, so needed the money more than he did.

• various bus drivers who have not taken fare money, or, when I"ve had a return BAB but then wanted to pay the extra single BC and stay on the bus wouldn't accept it. Mostly in the countryside where I live, but once, also, in Glasgow.

• Drivers who have picked me up when I've hitched, and consequently gone miles out of their way for me, ignoring my objections. One lovely woman added 18 miles onto her morning commute to take me to my office.

• Staff on the Caledonian Sleeper trains who have made my journey more pleasant. One guard told us to switch trains at York, as there was trouble on the line and the other train would arrive sooner. I had too much luggage to want to try to negotiate a footbridge with at 1 in the morning and, having established the train I was on would still arrive at Euston at some point I asked if I could stay on. He gave me a first class berth (including a cooked breakfast) upgrade from the seats and told me he'd move my bags for me. Then, about a year ago, the heating in the seated carriage stopped working. It was Baltic in there. I told one guard but he refused to come and help. Eventually, at about 5 in the morning, I went to the buffet car and told the guard there. He went to check, and was horrified at not only the temperature, especially as there was a young child there, but by his colleague's attitude (he'd left the train by this point). He let me and an elderly woman who had also gone in search of help into the buffet car and provided hot drinks and blankets to all. He then put the two of us into a berth for the final few hours (having established that the child had left with her mother in the meantime). I did Tweet CS about his help but, unfortunately, they never got in touch with him. So, once again, Thank you Leon!

These stories are really inspiring. It’s a bit more difficult as a man as people are a bit more wary if you offer them a lift or help with their shopping.

I can’t really think of anything that out of the ordinary, I just do what I imagine most people do like give away vouchers/tickets I don’t need, let older people on a bus first and give up my seat, help women with buggies off of buses and trains. Handed in a lost phone once. I’m also tall so often get asked to get stuff from high shelves and offer to if I see someone struggling.

When I’ve had a shitty day and feel down I always try to perk myself up and give a smile and be polite to people at tills etc. No point bringing others down with my bad attitude.

I’m on a FB group for mums who breastfeed, and there was this mum of two in America who posted that she had only JUST got a job, a whole three months after her baby was born (!), and therefore money was so tight that she couldn’t afford the pump bags to express milk into so that her babysitter could give the baby breastmilk. She was asking for alternatives, so people were suggesting pumping into a washed out mayonnaise jar, and she was saying, yes I could do that.
I got so sad that she was a) pumping into a mayonnaise jar, and b) had to go back to work three months after her baby was born (and thought that that was a long time!) that I sent her an Amazon voucher for £75 and said please spend it on whatever you need - baby things or stuff for your new job; up to you. I hope she managed in her new job and with the new baby.

An old lady in the doctors surgery was getting the receptionist to call her a taxi. I wasn't earwigging but overheard that she lived on the same estate as me. I offered her a lift, trying to sound as un-creepy as possible. Her husband greeted her at the door, surprised by a random car pulling up, instead.of a taxi. She thanked me profusely for saving her the taxi fare, as well as having to wait for the taxi, she kissed me on the cheek and her husband waved his thanks too. I often think of them when it's cold out and wonder if I should grab them a loaf and a pint but I cannot for the life of me find their road now (I haven't lived here all that long)

My and my DD have made kindness bags and hand them to people who are 'sad' (DD is only 4, I've explained these people we see out Tesco etc might be a bit sad as they don't have a nice warm bed or a nice bathroom etc) and she loves it. She'll even sometimes say, many hours or day later "I wonder if that mister is a bit less sad now"

I went for lunch at the local pub with some colleagues in our lunch hour and saw an old man eating fish and chips with a pint by himself and just felt that I wanted to pay for his meal. I did so when I paid for mine and the waitress told me he was a lovely man whose wife had died and he was recovering from a stroke, and his promise to himself was to go to the pub every Wednesday to keep himself active. My heart broke! Some how I just knew this man needed to receive some kindness and what a good hunch it was!

I once found a phone at a festival and tried to get into it to call the last numbers dialed or the emergency contact, and luckily 'mum' started ringing. I answered and explained the situation and got a very angry woman shouting 'Where is my daughter, she's really drunk' and 'why do you have her phone?' I explained I had found it on the floor and was trying to reunite the phone with the owner and my location at the festival to allow her to call her daughter's friend and get someone to collect it. After about 45 minutes standing there waiting, a very drunk teenage girl stumbled up to me, took the phone then walked off without saying a thing! Not only had I had an ear bashing from her mother, I had wasted an hour stood waiting for someone to collect said phone when I should have been partying. I almost wished I hadn't bothered for the hassle it caused!

A few years ago, before electronic payments, I was at a petrol station and there was an argument going on, a young man had put in £5.05 worth of petrol and he only had £5 on him. I only had my card so we negotiated that I would put in 5p less than I paid for, he was so grateful!

I did once grab a very small child as she ran into the road to chase her doll's buggy that the wind had taken, all I got then was a mouthful for touching the child!!

These are some nice ideas! I often buy a few bunches of daffs or roses at the till at our marks and Spencer’s as they’re right there as you pay, and give them to whoever is behind me. I always give ‘money off next purchase’ type vouchers to whoever is behind me when I get them too. I’ve bought a duvet, silver blanket and taken hot dinners round to a local homeless guy last winter. I did try to get him help but he was in a bad way and wouldn’t accept it but was certainly grateful for help keeping warm. He’s recovered a bit now and is living somewhere, I saw him a couple of weeks ago and we chatted. I rang around last year and found a bed for a young homeless guy at a shelter when it was freezing last Feb and booked him in and paid for an Uber to get there on my account. I called the shelter the next morning and they’d given him loads of support and help already and were giving him another space that night. So that felt really really great. Obviously the usual returning lost property, helping out elderly people here and there. I think I would feel dreadful forever if I just carried on walking if I saw someone struggling. I’ve been told to bugger off a few times by fiercely independent old ladies before though! They’re insulted that I think they might need help so I’ve had to sheepishly retreat 😅. About 5-6 Christmases ago we bought pretty much an entire Christmas dinner for a family really struggling since being ditched by the husband (and breadwinner), and benefits not being processed on time. We didn’t know them but they were known to local support services and I worked with that support person in another capacity. The friend/colleague was really upset and worried that she couldn’t do more and told me about the anonymous lady’s story. Anyway so I bought the dinner, gave to my friend to take over there, cost about £20 and some cheap crackers and toys for the kids and chucked in £20 for the gas. I still have never met this lady and only know her first name but have kept the letter she sent me afterwards. Every time I come across it I get really choked up. Probably cost me a total of about £80-£100 which I couldn’t really afford to throw around, although we wouldn’t starve or freeze, but it was absolutely worth every penny and I would do it again in a heartbeat. What it meant to that Family, the mum really, was more than stuff. In her letter it was all about the uplifting feeling of knowing that someone cared. It wasn’t strictly above board for my friend to get involved to that degree, but we both agreed it was unthinkable to leave this lady adrift until the new year. The letter, and just knowing it had been done: priceless.

People passing on money off vouchers, are a lot of them not linked to the tesco or nectar cards and only valid with your card?

I've paid for a fellow mum's nappies and milk when her card got declined in a supermarket. She asked for my address and I just told her to pay it forwards when she gets the chance.

Avoiding, not all, I gave a lady my Waitrose till spit today for £7 off her shopping and said pass it on, she was thrilled. I love seeing peoples faces when I do a little kind act like that!

I don't see this as a ROAK but his parents seemed really surprised and happy. We were at an agricultural show a couple of years ago with our dds, dd2 had only learned to walk. A young man (late 20s) with severe additional needs was beside the queue for food and his quite elderly parents were sitting nearby. He liked to shake peoples hands and most were ok but some were very standoffish. He shook hands with us and dd2 giggled with delight so he hugged her, his dps were mortified (she was delighted!) but I told them he was grand and he hugged me. They looked exhausted so we bought them some food, with ours and he accompanied our dds on a nearby ride while they had a break to eat. His dm was tearful after because so many people stear clear of him and to see him having fun with people meant a lot to her.

I also leave parking tickets on machines or hand them to people approaching

I put £45 of food and sanitary products in the food bank at Tesco today, does that count?