Random acts of kindness

Forever grateful to two strangers

ONE day at the grocery store after a big shop to stock up, I reached into my purse for my wallet and to my horror, it wasn't there.

I frantically searched my purse and the bags I had brought and still couldn't find it. Then I realized that I had left the wallet on the bus.

I automatically thought, "My money is gone," and I panicked. I had hundreds of dollars in there. Surely, the money was gone by now. All I could do was call Winnipeg Transit, explain the situation and pray and hope someone was honest enough to turn in the wallet to the bus driver.

I was told that anything found on the bus would be turned in to the depot on Main Street when the driver was done his shift in about an hour. But I was without a car and couldn't quickly get to the depot from Portage Avenue and School Road.

That was when I witnessed the most incredible act of kindness I have ever seen. The customer next to me in line had seen my meltdown, and she offered to drive me to the depot. I was so grateful, beyond words.

This was only the beginning of some incredible acts of kindness, though.

When we reached the depot, the driver hadn't made it in yet so we sat and waited almost 45 minutes. I learned a few things about this kind woman, including that we share the same first name.

When the bus driver arrived, my wallet was among the items he turned in to the lost and found -- and all the money was there, too! I was so grateful to the person who found it and turned it in, I cried.

But, it didn't end there. The other Diane drove me back to the grocery store, and despite having worked a full day already, she drove me home with my groceries. She wouldn't even accept gas money.

She and the person who turned my wallet in restored my faith in people. I am forever grateful to them both.

-- Dianne McNeil

Flu clinic staff were extra-special

WE are the parents of an autistic, non-verbal 17-year-old girl with asthma. Melanie would not understand the importance of waiting for the flu shot.

We had been turned away from clinics earlier in the week because of masses of people waiting for the shot.

When we tried the flu clinic at the Grant Park Shopping Centre, Melanie started shrieking from fear and anxiety of being in a crowded place, and we had to leave.

On Oct. 30, after our daughter went to school, we headed to the H1N1 flu clinic at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church on Grant Avenue.

We waited 45 minutes in the cold until the doors opened at 10 a.m., and we got inside the warm building. By 11 a.m., we'd been processed and were waiting our turn for the shot. There were only 150 people in front of us.

After we found out how long the wait would be, we talked to one of the staff about our daughter's special needs. She told us we could talk to the on-site manager.

We went and got our daughter and consulted the manager. We were immediately removed from the noisy waiting area to a quiet room where we were able to wait for our shots.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the staff member, the manager (we think her name is Jane) and the nurse, Maybelle. They treated us with such kindness.

Words do not begin to describe how grateful we are to these special people at this very busy flu clinic.

-- Brenda and Phil Halprin

Strawberries sprinkled with a senior's kindness proved a sweet treat

My story goes back to 1969 or 1970 when I was about five years old. I was with my mom and two little brothers riding on the transit bus on a hot summer day. I am sure we must have been fussing and giving my poor mom grief about being hot.

An elderly man sitting near us opened up his grocery bag and pulled out a pint of strawberries and offered us kids the treat. I remember them as being the best strawberries I had ever tasted -- possibly because they were sprinkled with kindness.

Through the years, I think of that older gentleman who acted in kindness to a native family on a bus, and I say Meegwetch.

-- Rose Lariviere

Send your stories to kindness@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 7, 2009 B6