7 kind gestures that made someone's day

7 kind gestures that made someone's day

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SALT LAKE CITY — There are infinite ways to give service each day.

Maybe you comfort a new friend in a similar situation as you. Or maybe you can help pay for someone's groceries. Perhaps you extend additional patience toward a new driver.

One of my favorite ways to serve is ask sincere questions about someone's interests and life. I hope I make someone feel appreciated or interesting.

Each week, we run an article highlighting the kindness of people in the community. Every week we learn about new ways to serve, and are reminded of the familiar methods, too.

Kim D.

On encouraging a child:

“I was standing in line at the bank with my 9-year-old daughter to make a deposit. We had just had a yard sale and she had sold some of her toys to earn a little extra money.

“As we were standing at the teller making the deposit, a kind man in the line next to us asked if she was putting money into a savings account. She said yes and he proceeded to pull out his wallet and handed her $5 to add to the deposit. He told her thanks for being a good saver. That made our day!”

Darla M.

Page Two:

On the power of one:“I am a married woman without children. Mother’s Day is a difficult day if you want to be a mother and Mother Nature has different ideas.

“On a typical Mother’s Day I stay home, hide out and wait for the day to pass without incident. However, this Mother’s Day ended differently. A mother of three small children texted a short message to me in the evening expressing she was thinking about me on "this day" and telling me that I am a true example of womanhood, and a wonderful daughter of God. I have never had a simple note make a difference, it truly touched my heart. I appreciate her thoughtfulness. She took time to step outside her world and reach out to a woman without children.

Thomas F.

On giving the clothes off your back:

“On a recent Saturday afternoon, I was at the corner of 400 South and 200 East in Salt Lake City, and in the crosswalk across the street was a middle-aged lady gingerly walking. I could tell that she was making an effort to make it across the street before the waiting cars that wanted to turn. Then I noticed that she did not have shoes on.

“When she reached the end of the crosswalk, there were a couple of women and a man waiting to cross to the other side of the street. As the woman was about to pass, one woman took off her shoes, stopped the woman and gave her the shoes. I don’t tear up very often, but I suddenly got a huge lump in my throat and was wonderfully proud of this woman to do something like that.”

Rebecca C.

On many hands making light work:

“On one of many visits to my local home improvement store, my friend and I purchased a pallet of 65 bags of mulch. I did not notice that the plastic that holds everything together had a large tear in it until we rounded a corner in Lehi and the top portion of the pallet tipped over, spilling bags of mulch all over the road.

“As we both hopped out to get this massive mess cleaned up, about a dozen gentlemen came out of surrounding businesses, cars and trucks to help. What would have taken two a long time to clean up ended up taking less than 5 minutes with the help of strangers who saw a need and took care of it.”

Vickie L.

On thanking someone for their honesty:


Have you seen any moments of service or kindness? Do you want to share a story about something that made your day? Email a brief story (100 words or fewer) along with any photos or video to crosenlof@ksl.com.

“My husband was at Walmart and while standing in line he noticed the woman close to the front of the line set an envelope on the shelf where the candy was while she was going through her purse. She moved up further in the line and was getting ready to leave when my husband happened to notice she had not picked up her envelope, which was full of money.

“He yelled out to her asking if it was hers. She come running back to him and she gave him the biggest hug ever and started crying. She told him that was her Social Security check and that's all she had to live on for the month and she would have not been able to pay her rent if she would have lost it.

“Then her daughter came over and gave my husband a hug and told him she was so grateful for his honesty and she wished there were more people like him. My husband Leonard is the most kind man alive and he would do anything in the world for anyone, but this was the first time someone had come up to him and thanked him for his kindness. He felt so good about it and it left a smile on his face all day. It warmed my heart to know how grateful this woman was.”

John

On returning rudeness with kindness:

“A few months ago, my wife was heading home from her job in Salt Lake when she called to say she was too tired to fix dinner, so she would stop and order take out . As she was looking at the drive-thru menu, there was a loud horn blast from a big truck behind her, then the woman passenger told my wife to move on and not be so stupid.

“Now, my wife is a supervisor of a large firm and has an ability to put someone in their place but, bless her heart, she drove up to the order window and placed her order with this young man and told him, ‘this person behind me has been so patient with me, I would like to buy their order too.’ The young man offered free desserts for her kindness, but my wife told him to give the deserts to them. Our order was $12 and his order was over $20. I would sure liked to see the look on his face when he pulled up to the window.”

Erica C.

On honesty:

“We were at a park a while back when one of my stepdaughters noticed a wallet on a slide. She brought it down to me and we searched for an ID. We found out that the owner had not left the park yet. So we hurried off and ran it down to him before he could leave. He was very grateful. Because of the good examples in her life, my stepdaughter knew exactly what to do. I am so proud of her!”

Have you seen any moments of service or kindness? Do you want to share a story about something that made your day? Email a brief story (100 words or fewer) along with any photos or video to crosenlof@ksl.com.

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