Acts of Kindness

When American Profile asked readers to tell us about acts of kindness, we were flooded

When American Profile asked readers to tell us about acts of kindness—both given and received—we were flooded with stories of unselfish examples of the generous human spirit.

Shirley R. Johnson of Waxahatchie, Texas, anonymously arranged for a young friend to get a much-needed, free tank of gas; Martha Staby’s 62nd wedding anniversary celebration became extra special when someone paid for the Loveland, Colo., couple’s restaurant meal and slipped out before they could say thank you; Patricia Jager of Chevy Chase, Md., and her husband would have missed an ocean cruise had a young stranger not carried their luggage through the airport so they could catch a flight to their ship.

Many of the stories we received occurred decades ago, yet whether the act of kindness was profound or simple, the receiver never forgot it.

Feeling like a million

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and Lindsay Anderson was in a great mood, so the Streator, Ill., teenager decided to wash her car.

“At the car wash, I noticed a man and a woman looking for spare change, picking up every coin that they could find. When I finished washing my car, I drove to the other side of the lot to dry it off,” she says.

She wanted to help, but she didn’t want to embarrass the couple.

“I knew that I had extra dimes and nickels in my change purse. When the man and woman were on the opposite side of the lot, I took $1 in change and left it on top of the coin box in the bay where I had washed my car. I knew that they would find it soon.”

The amount wasn’t much, but to a teen it can be—and to the couple it could have meant all the difference.

“I kept on drying my car as if I didn’t know what they were looking for, “ Anderson says. “It made me feel like a really great person to help someone in need. I hope that it made their hunt for loose change a little easier.”

Healing art

A year after Robert Devlin of Canton, N.C., retired in December 1989, his daughter, Lisa, mother of three small children, learned she has multiple sclerosis. “It just floored us, but with the help of the good Lord, we are still making it. She still is able to hold her job in the receiving office of a large hardware chain,” Devlin says.

His daughter’s circumstances moved Devlin to act. He wanted other MS patients to know “somebody (is) thinking about them,” he says.

Now, every young woman he meets who has MS gets a handmade Appalachian door harp—a stringed musical instrument that hangs on a door, and when the door is opened, hanging balls strike the strings to make music, much like chimes.

“I don’t hunt for people; I just run across them,” Devlin says. “So far, we’ve given 14. I hope I can continue to do it as long as I’m able.”

Mr. Bicycle Man

When C.M. Rust of McMinnville, Tenn., who repairs and sells used bicycles, gave away one of his prettiest—a red 20-inch boy’s bike—he found that it brought more return than he could have imagined.

One December day about 15 years ago, a friend called to tell him of a family who faced a bleak Christmas because the father was out of work due to an injury. “Their little son is riding a bike with no tires, and the spokes are loose in both wheels. If you can, would you please help him?” the friend asked.

“My son and I drove out to that mobile home, and I walked up to the front door (where the little boy was watching), told him that I knew about his old bike, and asked him if I could see it,” Rust says. “He just shut the door. But before I turned to walk back to the truck, I heard those naked rims in the gravel drive, and there he stood, holding that dilapidated bike. ‘It’s not much but you can have it if you want,’ he said.”

Rust thanked him, loaded it into the truck, and asked if he could give him something. “I guess it would be okay,” the little boy said.

“As I unloaded that red bike, his eyes lit up and he hugged and thanked me,” Rust recalls.

“That night I got a taste of what Christmas is all about. God blessed me all the way home, and he still does. I met that lad again not too long ago, and now he is a husband and a father. He told me that he would never forget me and that red bike. Well, need I say, I was blessed again.”

Up and running

Last October on a Sunday evening, Martha Burnham of San Saba, Texas, and her granddaughter were returning home from a long trip and stopped for a break at a convenience store in Sweetwater, Texas—three hours from home. When they returned to the car, it would not start.

“We knew nobody in Sweetwater, so we were stuck until a mechanic could look at it the next day,” Burnham says. “I went back into the store and told the young clerk about my dilemma, and he said, ‘Well, I’ll bet these two guys can help you,’ referring to two young men standing with him.”

Orin Romine and Cody Slayton, students at Texas State Technical College West Texas, determined the problem was the starter motor and said they could replace it if they had one to put on. Unfortunately, the local auto parts store was closed.

“The young men thought they could get one at a junkyard, but I told them I didn’t have the $132 it would cost. ‘That is not a problem,’ they said. ‘We will go get it and pay for it and put it on, and you can send us a check when you get home.’ I still cannot believe that these two kids cared enough to do such an act of kindness,” Burnham says.

When Burnham offered the young students money for their time and labor, they refused. “They said, ‘If you are going to send us money (for the labor), then we won’t even give you our address. All we want you to do is pass the act of kindness on to someone else.’”

Her reward: a new friend

As MaryAnn Remaly drove out of a grocery store parking lot in Bath, Pa., she noticed a shopping cart with a purse in it. She got out of her car and retrieved the pocketbook. “Once I got home, I immediately found identification and called the purse’s owner,” Remaly says. “She was overjoyed that an honest person had found her purse, because it contained quite a bit of cash.”

The two met later that day to exchange the purse. “That first meeting led to many more with my new friend, Grace,” Remaly says. “We now get together quite a lot.”

Flower power

Whenever she’s grocery shopping, Tracy Candelaria of Concho, Ariz., buys a carnation from the store’s floral department. “As I leave the store, I give it to someone on my way out,” she says. “I always get a smile; sometimes I get a hug. One day, a lady chased me through the parking lot and said, ‘You don’t know what this means to me.’ That really made my day.”

Candelaria’s acts of kindness are as good for her as they are for those who get her flowers. “This does more for me than it does anyone I give the flowers to,” she says. “I love the way it makes me feel.”

Brave battle

After Barbara J. Comaduran of Benson, Ariz., was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in June 1998, rigorous chemotherapy treatments frequently caused “bad” days.

One day when she was out at the mailbox, her neighbor and friend Tom Adams drove up.

“He asked how I was, but when I replied, ‘Okay,’ he could see that was not true,” Comaduran says.

Soon, the doorbell rang, and Adams’ wife, Nancy, came in to check on Comaduran and make hot tea. When the doorbell rang again, Adams was at the door. “He came in and took my hands in his and told me that I was the bravest person that he knew and that he wanted me to have something,” Comaduran says. “I opened my hand and saw that Tom, who served in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine, had given me his service medal. I knew just how much that medal meant to Tom, and now he had given it to me.”

That May, Comaduran had a stem cell transplant and wore the medal throughout treatment. “Tom’s act of kindness was so significant to me,” she says. “It helped me with my battle. I am happy to report that I continue to be without evidence of cancer.”

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