Be Kind & Pass it On with FREE Kindness Cards!
Do you want to inspire others to be kind, compassionate and loving to one another… at home, at work, and in every interaction throughout the day by practicing intentional acts of kindess?! GiftofKindness.com provides tools that encourage kindness as a way of life rather than just the occasional random act. In addition to free downloadable kindness posters, inspirational newsletters, and kindness gear, GiftofKindness.com provides FREE kindness cards to share within your school, workplace, and community. If you are interested in receiving a few kindness cards at no charge, then send an email to cards@giftofkindness(dot)com with your name and mailing address.
Keep in mind that the purpose of the card is not to elicit a reward or response but rather to be used in times of autonomy where the recipient can appreciate the act. The card draws emphasis to the actual Gift of Kindness provided and hopefully prompts the recipient to “pass it on” by way of providing a kind act to another. Here’s an example taken directly from GiftofKindness.com…
You pull into a drive-thru and pay for your order. Instead of just taking your food and pulling off, give the Gift of Kindness and pay for the person behind. Sure it may cost you $5 but the simple act will have a profound impact on that person and in your own life. It’s easy, you tell the cashier you want to pay for that person behind you too. You then hand the cashier a KINDNESS CARD and ask that they give the card to the person when they pull through to pay. This lets the recipient know and become aware of the initiative as the card explains it. Later in the day or week, this person will look at the card and it will remind them that they were the recipient of a the Gift of Kindness. The card serves as a reminder and a vehicle to be contagious and spread positive energy.
Have you witnessed any random acts of kindness recently? If so, let us know in the comments below.
(Thanks, Chi-Town Cheapskate!)
I actually had somebody pay for my entire order at KFC a few years ago. It was at a time in my life where I, as a single mom of two small kids, was really struggling financially. I will never, ever forget it. (I started to cry and then cashier started to cry. LOL) Since then, I have tried my best to pay it forward in every way possible. Just think… what a wonderful world this would be if everybody did just one nice thing for somebody else every day! It’d be like heaven on earth! 🙂
That is soooo cool!!!
I do this every now and then when I am at a drive-through, just because.. I have also sometimes asked our server for the check of a couple people at sit down restaurants. I learned long ago about random acts of kindness, and have been blessed in my life, and love to “pay it forward”. So these cards will be so handy, because people often wonder why! 🙂
this may be a small way, but i always give my free blockbuster express codes to the person in line behind me. they ALWAYS smile.
Not so tangible as paying for someone else’s food, but yesterday I had multiple errands to do with my son, a 14-year-old. Every time we checked out, he made a point of talking to the cashier and said “have a good day” to the cashier and people we met going in or out of the store. It was so nice to see how they ALL responded so positively to him. I’m proud of my boy!
As you should be! That’s awesome!
Our local radio station does the “drive through difference”. We can print a message from their website & pay for the person behind us in the line. The cashier hands them the paper when they pull up to pay. I’ve done it once before & it was so much fun!
Must be the Christian radio station in Minneapolis! We had this happen to us last year. It was incredible! We were out of town and we were literally counting out our change to pay for the meal, boy were we blessed! It is a great idea! I do like to give the credit to Christ instead though! =)
My parents did this when my sister and I were little, and my sister and I do it now: When we go to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we always pay the bridge fare for the person behind us. Little things go a long way! Thanks for promoting this, collin!
Back in February when my daughter was in 5th grade and and they were selling candy with valentines day cards attached to them a couple of friends and I talked to our kids and had them pick out one child in each classroom and send the candy and card to one kid who they thought would maybe not recieve any cards or maybe a child who didnt have as many friends or someone they thought really just needed to recieve one. They did this without the other kids knowing who sent it and the kids that ended up recieving them were so happy that someone cared and our kids felt so good for doing this. It made even the teachers so proud and thankful for having such caring and compassionate kids in their classrooms.
Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a wonderful idea! It reminds me of the movie “Pay It Forward”. I went ahead and downloaded the cars and printed them myself. We should try and find a way to use a card everyday.
The book Pay it Forward is so much better that the movie, just like most books to movies.
When leaving a parking garage I sometimes pay for the person behind me if I have a few extra bucks.
Yesterday at Kohl’s I had a few 10 dollars off a 20 dollar purchase so I gave one to a lady with her son behind me. She had a 30% off coupon too, so she scored a sweet deal!
Hope that brought me some good coupon karma 🙂
I wish more people thought like this.
Fabulous!
Someone once paid for my Starbuck’s order. The day before, our apartment building had caught on fire, and we lost pretty much everything. It was only a few dollars, but it helped me through a really rough day.
We took our 16 year old son my 7 year old cousin to Hershey Park on Monday as part of the “adoption day” gift we are doing for each of my 4 adopted cousins. (one special day out with us on their own). While my Hubby & I were waiting for the boys to get done on a ride we were watching some people play a game. There was a guy (young 20’s) playing while his girlfriend/wife was watching him. Next to him was a little boy playing too. Well, the guy won and when the employee held 2 stuffed animals out and asked which one he wanted he simply looked at the little boy and asked “Which one do you like Buddy?” The little boy pointed to a bear, the guy handed it to him, smiled and walked away.
Sooo sweet!!
My son has given little things to younger children at birthday parties and things from his goody bags so maybe one day he will grow up to be “that guy”.
We had several coupons for Barnes & Noble this week,and my 10 year old daughter walked around giving them out. A couple weeks ago, 3 people were waiting for Triple A outside in the heat, and I went and bought them lunch. Nothing feels better, and the feeling is its own reward.
When I was about 16 and serving tables at a little Mexican restaurant a man from another table (not one of mine) flagged me down. He quietly told me he would like to pay the bill for another table and handed me his card. He told me that he did this monthly “just because he could.” He ended up paying the bill for a husband, wife, and two little ones. They were out celebrating Mom’s birthday and it made mom tear up. It was something I knew I would never forget and promised myself someday I would do as well.
It is so exciting to hear all the Pay it Forward gestures without expecting to receive something back or wonder if they will have good Karma! It is nice just to see people do nice things because it is the right thing to do, not because of the payback you get in the end.
Every few months we leave a big tip for a waiter or waitress. (Big by our standards anyway…our bill for dinner is usually around $20 and we’ll leave a $20 tip). I got the supreme pleasure one time of walking past the window by our table on our way out to the car just as the waitress realized what we had done. She looked down, her jaw hit the floor, and with a completely dumbfounded look, her eyes swept the restaurant and then looked up to meet my grinning face outside the window. I just waved and kept walking. It was PRICELESS!!
(oh and for what it’s worth…we do the “order water and lemon and make lemonade! ) 🙂
Thanks Collin! I saw this post this morning and it has inspired me to incorporate Random Acts of Kindness in my workplace and in my personal life. Awesome!
I work in a restaurant and it was mid winter and I had an older couple come in and eat. I had a lady stop me and ask for their bill; so I went to the couple and pulled their bill from their table and gave it to the lady…she knew that the rusty old van in the parking lot belonged to them…ie.(the only other one besides hers) I found out later that the lady brought their meal because the little old lady reminded her of her mom who had just recently passed away; I visited with the lady; and cried with her as she told me about her mom. The older couple was speechless! They hugged me and told me that an angel was looking out for them.
This happened to me back in May at the McDonald’s drive thru outside of Fort Worth. I was taking my son to a check up with a specialist 2 hours from our house and when I got to the window the cashier told me the lady in front of me told me to have a great day and she had paid for mine and my son’s breakfast. It was only $3 but I was so impressed that this lady had been so nice to us! I never got a chance to thank her, but I will never forget that small act of kindness she showed that day!