no pictures, today!
one of the good deeds in the march be nice box was to purchase a $5 gift card & hand it to the person behind you in line.
like all other good deeds from the boxes, they are meant to be used as an outline. i love the idea of taking something on the list & then making it your own.
i keep a few small-value gift cards in my wallet. that way, if we are out & a great opportunity arises, i can just reach in, hand one out & make someones day!
a few weeks ago, i had the perfect opportunity.
blake & i were walking down a pretty busy street in the city, getting ready to run a quick errand.
we passed a man on the street with a sign, asking cars at the red light for money & food.
i have a rule that i dont hand out cash to people who are panhandling, but i am happy to help in other ways {i also keep fruit & granola bars with me}
as we passed the man, i remembered that i had a $5 gift card for mcdonalds with me {the gc was gifted to me from klout} i ran over, handed him a gift card & showed him that there was a mcdonalds at the other end of the next block.
super simple & easy!
tell us : do you keep 'kindness emergency' items with you?
I don't give cash, either, but I will give out grocery items (bags of carrots, bananas, oranges, etc...) when I'm walking somewhere with a bag of groceries, or bottled waters when it's hot. Two of my favorite small kindness experiences are:
ReplyDelete1. It was a steaming hot day a few years ago, and a man was standing with a sign at a freeway exit downtown. I had just been to the store and bought some Gatorade. I handed him one out the window, and he opened it almost immediately while he was sweating his life away in the sun.
2. There was a progressively-more-pregnant lady who used to hold a sign at the intersection of Lake and Hennepin in Uptown. I took her to the store and let her buy $25 worth of groceries, whatever she wanted. I felt bad, because it was a hot day, so she couldn't buy things that would need refrigeration, but she did buy things she wouldn't normally buy for lunch!
jessica, you are SO kind! i love both those ideas! i dont purchase bottled drinks, but this would be a great idea ; especially in the summer! i think i could make an exception ;)
DeleteI love love love the idea of having some small gift cards with you to hand out to those asking for cash. I always feel the need to help, but a) rarely have cash and b) always feel a little uncertain about handing out cash. This is a great way to solve that problem! Thanks!
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