My family went grocery shopping tonight, and as we entered the store, a man approached me and said, “This is for you.” He handed me a forty-dollar gift card for groceries. I just stood there with my mouth open for a second before finally exclaiming, “Thank you!” I had no idea who this guy was. He just smiled and left. My husband and I looked at each other in disbelief. I really wonder what this guy’s story was and why he did it. There’s no way he could have known how much my family has been struggling and how much a gift card for groceries meant to us. It really made our day.
One day, if I ever have enough money, I think I will also pass out gift cards for groceries to random strangers. We all need to eat, so if you want to help people out, that’s a great way to do it.
Have you ever had something like that happen to you? Did it motivate you to want to do the same? Let’s hear some feel-good stories!
So many people helped me after I took my kids and left an abusive husband . Most I don’t even know their names. I’ve given people money and food .
The one I’m really proud of is that my youngest child used to buy food and talk to a homeless man outside of his job. My son said that the guy disappeared and he was afraid something had happened to him. But when he met my son months later, he had a job and was no longer homeless . He said that my son treating him like a human being was his motivation to try to help himself get off the streets .
First, congratulations on the gift card! It is heart-warming when someone steps up, out of the blue, and shows you that connection. I’m sure it was such a relief to you! Many years ago, when I was a new college grad sharing a 2-bedroom apartment in a sketchy neighborhood with 5 other people and all of us struggling,, my food budget was $15/week, I was in the grocery store and won a free, 2-liter of the store brand soda–any kind I wanted! I burst into tears because the water in our apartment came out of the faucet gray with a weird smell, and the bottle of soda meant something safe to drink.
We have a homeless man who hangs out at the local library. I’ve given him money several times–I know once he used it to do his laundry, because later that day I passed the laundromat and he was in there. I don’t know his story, but he seems perfectly content to live the way he’s living.
Have you ever had something like that happen to you?
I live in a pretty rural part of Pennsylvania, and basically everyone is white. One time I was at the grocery store and there was a young hispanic woman trying to pay with a wicc voucher and the staff were giving her a really hard time. So I ran my credit card through the machine, said, “I don’t want to stand here all day while you bullshit around messing with her” and that was that. She was really pretty, I am sure that had something to do with it.
When my mom passed away she left all of her kids some money. I took part of mine and went to a fred meyers store. I walked around and picked out the first lady I saw who had a cart full of groceries. She looked like a mommy who could use a hand so I asked her if she would mind if I paid for her groceries. She was dumbfounded but said yes. 400 dollars and it was money well spent. I wish I could do that more often.
Remember back in ’20 when lots of folks got stimulus checks signed by Trump? I got one which I donated it to the St. Louis Food Bank. I thought it pleasantly ironic that the money would be helping “those people” whom Trump certainly thought were beneath him. 😎
Hey, Ashes, thank you so much for YOUR act of kindness this week! I tried to post and it told me I was posting too fast, so I tried again later and got the same message. When that didn’t work, I asked my husband (who also reads FTB) to post my comment under his credentials, and THAT failed, too–same message, posting too fast (he hadn’t posted in days).
Thank you for just not posting the attempts. Nobody likes to read multiple identical messages.
To be honest, I didn’t even see multiple messages.
“400 dollars and it was money well spent. I wish I could do that more often.”
If Elon Musk ALONE was taxed 0.5% of his net worth, we could do that for 2.5 MILLION people. That doesn’t even consider taxing Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, the Sackler family, the Walton family, etc., etc., etc.
Ashes, why don’t you offer some of your beautiful flower paintings for sale? I would be interested in one for $100-200. It doesn’t even have to be big, in fact I would prefer a smaller one. I would love a 8×10 watercolor or marker or finger paint flower from you in that sort of price range. If you are interested, let me know where I can contact you.
Ask Great American Satan if I put my money where my mouth is.
I agree with moarscienceplz; I would be happy to buy one of your flower paintings.
Is there one that you see on my blog that you like?
I tried to contact you using the email I see with your comments but my email got sent back.