Saturday my mother in law, Cissie, and I finally set out to do our 30 random acts of kindness.  It was so wonderful to see the responses from everyone- there’s nothing like it.  Watching them go from skeptical, to thankful, to overwhelmed is really something.

We started at the fire and rescue in North Yarmouth where a local landmark had been lost to a tragic fire.  We went to deliver them cookies and a note of gratitude.  No one was there- so we just left the note.  I’ll have to pop by another time with the cookies.

Next we did the same for the Prince Public library and caught the ladies just as they were on their way out.  They were very appreciative.  Then we ventured out to the Hannaford and donated about $12 to the Animal Refuge League via the Coinstar machine they have.

This is a really nifty device because they normally charge 9% to change your coins to cash, but if you donate the money it all goes to the charity.

Cissie then gave out five Lotto tickets to mothers with children and an older gentleman.  One woman with two very “vocal” children gave Cissie a hug as her smile grew bigger.  That was a special sight.

Our next stop was to the laundromat where everyone seemed to be finishing up, but we left some change for each person there to compensate for some of what they’d just spent.  We visited the Dunkin Donuts next door and I caught a lady before she paid for her coffee and told her that I’d like to buy it for her.  She was caught off guard, but once she realized I was serious she was so thankful and said she had chills from the shock of it all.  She said was headed to the grocery store and wanted to pay the kindness forward.

We visited another coffee shop up the street, The Royal Bean, and did the same thing.  The woman was so shocked.  I told her that I was inspired to do 30 random acts of kindness for my 30th birthday.  She said that she would do the same on her next birthday.

We also visited another library with cookies and dropped off some cookies with a note at the Yarmouth Town Hall.

We stopped there for the day with our random acts and decided to do a few things on our own for the “cause.”  Here are a few we plan to do:

Write to an old friend we’ve lost touch with,  give a box of doggie treats an animal shelter, go to Walmart or Renys to pay off someone’s layaway toys for Christmas, tape change to a vending machine, dress up as Batman and Robin and visit the children’s hospital (that one will be for my husband and me to do), etc.

Hope you’re inspired to pay it forward!  It doesn’t have to be a day or event- just little acts here and there work wonders to brighten someone else’s day.