Random Acts of Kindness

Coffee was a day brightener

I just wish to acknowledge a Random Act of Kindness I experienced this morning.

After having a baking mishap, I decided to go shopping at Sobeys on Henderson Highway. I went to have a coffee and some pastry at the coffee shop. A gentleman ahead of me ordering coffee for himself, asked if I was ordering coffee. I said I was. Then he said, "It's on me."

This really perked up my day.

Thank you so much for this surprise kindness. With so much bad news around it's nice to hear a kind word.

-- E. Woelke

Thank you, stranger

I went to the St. Vital movie theatre to watch an interesting movie and hung my jacket on the back of my chair. My wallet containing $755, Visa, Master Card and American Express credit cards, driver's licence and other personal items must have fallen out of my jacket pocket.

I didn't know it was gone until I made a stop at the nearest food joint and discovered to my utter dismay and worry that my wallet was missing.

I rushed back to the theatre to discover that the second batch of moviegoers was already inside and the next showing was about to start. The manager promised to call me if he found the wallet or someone turned it in.

I met my friend at the food place and told him what had happened and how worried I was about the loss of the money and the credit cards.

Later, when I got home, I found my wallet in my mailbox. The money, credit cards and driver's licence were all there.

Thanks, good Samaritan stranger.

-- John Ballabh Wohihai

Saved from traffic

I would like to thank the two workers who saw I was stalled on St. Mary's Road and realized I could have been rear-ended by oncoming traffic. They helped push my car into the entrance where they were working and placed traffic barriers around the car which kept me safe until the tow truck came.

I never got their names, so I just want to thank them again.

-- Ron Brown

Good hearts

I had just arrived home from a long day at work when my doorbell rang.

A lady was on my doorstep. She asked "Does Chris Cooke lived here?" And I suspiciously said "yes, he does, he's my son." She says "I found his wallet on Keenleyside!" and me, not knowing it was even missing, stumbled over my words and mumbled something like "Oh, wow, I didn't know it was missing, thank you so much!" and she walked away.

I was in shock because I didn't know it was missing, and I totally was not expecting that. My son is 18 and works until 4 p.m. This was just before 5 p.m. I turned away from the door and looked in the wallet and there was $220 dollars in it. He had taken that money out of the bank to pay his indoor soccer fees and we would have been devastated had it been lost.

My son was at his Dad's, and we called him and he was frantic. He was so upset that he'd lost his wallet and was looking all over for it. He had just passed his driver's license test the week before, and had a credit card and all of his identification in the wallet which would have been pricey and time consuming to replace.

He was so thrilled that his wallet was returned and was upset with me for not at least getting the lady's name let alone not offering her something for her kindness.

I just want to say thank you so much to that kind lady. I hope you are reading this. You have no idea what that meant to our family and my faith in good will.

You make this world a much better place and I am proud to be in this life with you. Our world used to be full of people with your heart and sense of good faith. Now, sadly it seems that good hearts are a minority now.

Thank you for investing your time to teach a lesson to my children and reminding us what a beautiful world this can be if we all just stopped and used our hearts more often.

-- Jen Cooke

Angels walk among us

Each year, for the past four years, members of my family and a close family friend have participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure in Winnipeg.

Upon completion of this year's event, still dressed in our costumes, we went to the Smitty's Restaurant on Pembina for lunch.

While we were waiting for a table, a woman approached and thanked us for our commitment to the cause. She told us that she had recently lost her mother to breast cancer. I explained that our daughter was a breast cancer survivor. The woman introduced herself as Marjorie and hugged our daughter and wished her well.

During the meal, Marjorie came over to our table and presented our daughter with money, to pay for her lunch, and a lovely silver angel pendant which had belonged to her mother, Therese. We were so touched by her thoughtfulness and generosity and would like to take this opportunity to thank Marjorie for her act of kindness and compassion.

There truly are Angels among us! God bless you.

-- Pam Klawitter

Winnipeg Beach

A true Random Act of Kindness

A big thank you to the very caring people who stopped to help my wife and me after a car accident.

We were driving south on Highway 59 near Libeau when we had the misfortune to hit a deer. The car was extremely damaged, but we were not injured, just very "shook up."

This wonderful couple stopped, assisted us at the scene, put us into their truck until the fire, ambulance and police arrived, let us use their cellphone to call family members and then waited even longer.

e were very fortunate in that we did not have to be hospitalized, but without their help, we would have been stranded.

This very thoughtful couple stayed and then drove us home, into Winnipeg. This really is a Random act of Kindness.

-- Rose and Ken Williams

Nice to know people still care

I am in my late 80s and was on my way to a doctors appointment early on a frosty morning in October. I was attempting to cross a street downtown and slipped on a small patch of black ice and had a nasty fall onto my elbow, knee and ribs.

I was not able to get up right away and was overwhelmed by the quick response from about five people checking how I was and helping me get to my feet. A gentleman in the group said he had fallen in the same place earlier that day. He held my arm to cross St Mary Avenue and Edmonton Street and walked me right into the doctor's waiting room.

I did shake the man's hand in thanks, but I didn't get his or any of the others' names.

I hereby thank them all for their interest in my well being. Fortunately nothing was broken just badly bruised. It is nice to know there are people out there that still care.

-- Gil McVarish

Went to great lengths to return card

We received a phone call late one weekday evening. I didn't recognize the caller ID so didn't pick up. The next morning I had a message on my voice mail. My daughter, the day before, without my knowledge, had borrowed my debit card and unknowingly dropped the card in a parking lot on her way back to her vehicle after some shopping.

The caller was a kind gentleman, who had found the card and safely held on to it for us.

He spent a lot of time and effort calling every household in the phone book with the same last name and left messages and contact information. His message let us know he had possession of the card and how to reach him to get it back.

We are truly thankful that Paul took the time to pick up the card and take the precious time out of his day to make those numerous phone calls.

I was able to pick up the card from his wife at their home the following day. Thank you so much.

-- Brenda Cleverley

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 17, 2012 G10