Real Stories

So much kindness.

Share the magic in your life.

I'm a single mother. My daughter is 12 and I dropped out of college to be said,single mother. So I'm going back to school and over the summer the courses are exhausting. One day it was just 10 plus hours worth of work. I felt so bad because it wasn't paying attention to her. She's kind of off doing her own thing and just like, very nonchalantly, in the background after I said it was just exhausting, she just goes, “I'm proud of you.” And I don't think she even necessarily meant to be so heavy, but it was a big deal so I thought it was very cool.

Maura

I have a daughter that always seems to try to help me out, whether I ask for it or not. She recently visited, she paid both my car registrations, she keeps not letting me pay for anything while she’s here, and she helped me organize all my files, which I dreaded. SO thank you to my daughter.

Jeri

I was traveling from Indianapolis to Burbank, CA, and when I got there I discovered they had inadvertently left my bag in Indianapolis. And literally the cool thing is normally what they do is it just comes in the next flight and they let you know it's there and it's on you to come pick it up. This gentleman not only made sure that I got my bag, but he called me and let me know that it was there, and really went above and beyond in terms of customer service. It was really awesome and was something that really brightened my day.

Aaron

I love my friends here and I help out at the farm here. My friend Darin at work, he helped me out. When my aunt passed away because of covid, I felt sad and he noticed  so he asked, “What’s wrong?” and I was like,  “I miss my aunt.”  He rubbed my back for me, and said, “You'll be OK,” and he’d make me laugh every day here because we’re friends. Then when he broke his arm and had surgery I came to his house to say hi to him. Hopefully, he’s feeling good.  

Jenny

At age 30, I joined the military with two children, ages one and three. I was married and had wonderful parents in town to help me out. Leaving for basic training and school took four months, so I had to be away from the family at that time, so having a supportive spouse to help me out with it, none of that would be possible without my parents taking the children and Michael doing his fatherly duties so all of that is due to them.

Erin

I sew a lot and I do a lot of crafts. I do a lot of knitting and I make a lot of things for other people. But I have this one friend who makes bags for me, because she knows it's the one thing that I hate to make. Every time I turn around, she's giving me a new bag and it's such a kindness for me, because I could do it myself.I could learn. I know I could make a bag, but I don't like to. So it's just wonderful that she's decided to just take that and make it her gift to me.

Jean

I was actually flying back from Australia to the States and I was trying to get off the plane and I left my CPAP on the plane. Normally that takes hours and hours and hours. I literally got the baggage claim, found an attendant, and he on the spot radioed them. They found it and they brought it to me from the plane in like, 20 minutes. I was so fiberglass that I was over the moon for something so cool that they could do for a passenger.

Aaron

Our son was in the hospital and he came home and we were doing different doctoring things, and a colleague of ours, a couple of us have children the same age, she made a prayer shawl. It was the most amazing, beautiful thing and it just made my day. I posted it on Facebook - which I rarely post - so that lets you know how kind that was. Thank you.

Terese

My father died and I was extremely upset. When I just heard everybody was out of the house. I phoned a friend of mine and I said, “Oh, dad just died. You know, I'm so sad.” AndI we finished our conversation and I was puttering around the house doing whatever and there was a ring on the doorbell. There was my friend with a gin and tonic in each hand. She came in and we had a drink and I thought that was the nicest thing she could have done.

Fanny

When I found out I had lupus, my friend Ronnie gave me Trippen, my dog. He's now nine years old.

Bobbi

I am just thankful for my wife. I've had a lot of hard days, you know? I left a career I've been working at for four years, tried something new, started our own business together, and she has just been really great in supporting and giving me the help I need when I need. I’m so really thankful for her and how she helped out.

Ken

My sister brought me a subway sandwich when I worked 12 hours straight, and that was really kind of her.

Mara

My husband and I were tearing down our deck in our backyard and it's not very fun. I'm not the greatest at helping him with doing that, so you can imagine he had to do a lot of the work. We actually have a friend that dropped off a little care package with some drinks and snacks and things like that, that we could just use as a, “Here you go. You guys have been out in the sun.” Mind you, it was also like 90 degrees that weekend. So it was much needed, much appreciated. They didn't even ask, they just came and hung it on our door and said, “Here you guys go.” So really cool of them and we really appreciated it.

Kelsey

One of the best human memories I have, one time I had an accident on the highway in Fargo and as beautiful cars went past me,  a packed, quiet, run-down car stopped as I was waiting for my roommate to come give me a ride. They let me in their car so I wouldn't freeze outside. The least of us people, the most humble, are the ones that help you in amazing ways. Sometimes those that have the most can get more concerned about their own comfort. So forever I'll be grateful for that person. And coming from the African continent, we call that gesture, that extension of humanity, as seeing everyone being an extension of you.

Cyusa

We always get a flu shot and there's six of us and one year for whatever reason, too busy for anything, we missed it and we all got the flu. I had - I think the oldest kid was 10 maybe so to a toddler from 1 ½ years. I was sick and my husband was sick and my friend dropped over not just soup, but a whole big kettle of soup and bread and salad and milk. Like she didn't miss a single trick. And it just was at the door. I crawled down the stairs quite literally, and picked it up. And we had this lovely nourishing meal just because she had heard we were really all sick. It was lovely.

Jane

I received the bouquet of flowers that were totally unexpected. And the card? Said anonymous. And I'm like, do I know anybody that would do that? So I did have to go on Facebook, but the person fessed up and I am so thankful for that bouquet of flowers. They brought me out of some really dark times at that moment, and was such a wonderful, wonderful thing. So thank you, dear friend.

Marsha

The one person that I want to talk about is my mom. My mom is the only one person that I have a really good relationship with. Not only that, she's the only one person that I can go to for an advice if I'm feeling happy or if I'm feeling sad. She is the only one person that I can talk to for hours, and then she'll make me feel happy. So thank you, mom. And I love you.

Hanan

My aunt of almost 81 years old came down to the lake this weekend. I haven't seen her at our cabin in over a year. They brought the family down and we were able to spend a couple hours on the pontoon out on the lake. I don't think she really knows just the quality time that was spent, how much that meant to me and my husband. Thank you, Barbara.

Shannon

Our youngest daughter Elizabeth for Christmas did not give gifts that were tangible, but she said, “Mom, what would you like me to do around the house that we can do together? That would be helpful to you?” And I said the pantry is bugging me to death. It's just random. Everything's in there and I would love it if we could sort it together. So we spent half a day going through the pantry and reorganized everything and labeled everything and got all the sizes together and got organizing containers and we got the pantry all organized. Then the next year we did the basement and that took us two days to do, and it was one of the biggest kindnesses. Every time I go to the basement or open the pantry, I think of my daughter, Elizabeth.

Sarah

I have a friend who runs a bakery, Althea. She does, “Cakes by Althea”. If she has an extra couple cupcakes after a sale or something, she would always consider my family and, share with us whatever leftover goodies she had. And then of course, we’re just friends in general, so that's always a bonus. She just lights up a room anywhere she goes. Recently she gave me this little note and it's something so simple, a note. Who knew that it made my week?  It just kind of stayed with me, that little bit of friendship, acknowledgement, thankfulness that we're connected and so forth. Then, of course, the goodies as well. So all kinds of sweetness and kindness.

Marina

My husband and I had gone out to eat supper. Went to pay the bull and realized that we didn't have any cash. I went to try to get some cash from the ATM in the lobby, but couldn’t remember our pin number. A woman who'd had supper at the table next to us came by and she said, “How much did you want to leave for a tip? Because I'll just add it to my bill.” I was so shocked and surprised. I said “No, I'll come back tomorrow and leave a card and tip for the waitress.” She said, “No you pay it forward, but I'm going to pay your tip for tonight.” So thank you to that woman and thank you to the waitress that we had who helped us with our food and gave us such a good time, and was so kind and generous when we were not able to leave her cash, too.

Marsha

40 years ago it was coming up on my 21st birthday. I worked in a small department, with an erratic supervisor, a detached management. A lovely woman who was the admin person, was slightly older than I was, married, and had small children. And for my birthday, I came into work and she had made me a cake from scratch. In my memory, although my grandparents might have done it, I didn't remember ever getting a birthday cake from scratch. Mixes and the store, yes. But it just really impressed me that this woman took the time out from her busy home life, schedule, and work and spent the time to make me a cake. I don't even remember what it was. I think it had chocolate icing, but I don't remember if the cake itself was chocolate or not. To this day, I remember that cake and that gift of kindness. So thank you, Christy Bloom.

Jean

I moved up to the town of Fargo, ND two years ago, not knowing a single person. Not a single person. My ferrets and I moved up here and I'm kind of a quiet person and little introverted, and it can be hard for me to make friends because of that. But my neighbors, the folks below me kind of immediately I would get invitations to breakfast and I would find a little plate of cookies on my on my doormat, and so on. It really just made me feel at home. I had other sets of neighbors who are awesome people and we can go to - Well, breakfast does seem to be a favorite meal, I'll admit - And yeah. Just hanging out, nothing more complex than that. And they had family members that were also my age, so I made more friends that way and. it really made the transition to a town not as scary. And it was fun. It was fun to explore different things around town with a new friend.

Donna

An act of kindness from Anna Sather, the executive director, that she's kindly offered me for volunteering out here regularly is to save a seat for me at all three of the Farm To Table events. We’re having another one this Thursday night. She graciously tells me, “You don't need to pay for this seat. We want you here. We want you to experience this event.” So I will be at the one Thursday again. But I really appreciate that as a group out here at Farm in the Dell that every day is just fun to work with a group of our garden engineers and we just come together as a group all the time an we help each other. We share and we have fun and we laugh and it brings joy to my life. We enjoy each other so much so that we're a family out here. It's different every day and just I look forward to it. I can't wait to get out here every day.

Duane

I went to the Red Hawks on Sunday. I was sitting on top of the bleachers and I lost my shoe. A guy helped me get unstuck.

Heather

I have this friend of mine, he helped me get my license. He taught me how to drive. He even bought a car for me as a gift. May God bless him.

Joshua

I had not paid for my school tuition for a long time and a friend of mine stepped in who helped me to pay my school tuition. Not only a friend of mine, but also a person that I work with. I'm very grateful for him and thank him so much.

Cani

Number one, my wonderful sister Brid is here at my back at every turn. My wonderful husband Tom, every time I come back from somewhere he always remembers to have a cup of coffee ready for me when I arrive in at the airport. It means so much. My two girls, Kate and Hannah. Kate without fail is always at my back. She took a whole week from work and she came and helped me and did absolutely everything with a smile. And Hannah is amazing. She knows that the one thing in life that I cannot stand doing is laundry. Hannah has taken on the task of looking after the laundry just because she knows that is something that I don't like to do. She washes the clothes, she hangs them out, and after about an hour of having them on the line, she goes out and checks them and turns them around to make sure that everything is drying properly. She takes them off the line and brings them in and as far as I'm concerned that is one of the most amazing things that anybody can ever do for me.

Mary

I have a personal mutual aid project where I make a big batch of something once a week and share a big meal with my friends and friends and friends and family. It's been really great to have people pitch in for groceries when they can and I have been able to feed a lot of people with a small budget and this week. I was looking at my summer and realizing that it's packed and I don't know how I'm gonna keep feeding everybody every week. I posted asking people, you know, what should I do? Should I just do maybe one kind of soup every week? Or should I just take the summer off? While people were quick to assure me that, you know, I could take the summer off if I wanted, others also offered to share any leftovers they had over the summer for people who might otherwise go without food. So that was just really heartwarming and wonderful.

Ashlyn

One day in the lockdown portion of the pandemic, I was in my dining room office and I was doing painting meditations and sending encouraging notes to people with the meditations that I had painted. And the mail comes, which I know because the dog barks. So I do the big adventurous thing of going outside across the street to the mailbox to get the mail, which at that point it was like, “look outside still exists”. So I get the mail and I come in and there's a card from my friend Mary. I don't know if it was hand drawn or if it was a collage, but it was a card that Mary had made. Inside was just a nice, heartfelt sentiment about appreciating the way I was supporting people. It came as I was doing that for other people and so I was so touched by the fact that somebody had thought about me in the midst of their crisis, because we were all in crisis, right? And thought about me enough to make something, write something from their heart, and to put it in the mail and have it sent to me. All of that effort was really appreciated.

Michelle

I was working at a balloon store in my early 20s and it was Valentine's Day and there was only one person on the staff that had ever worked a Valentine's Day at this balloon and flower shop before, and the owners were new. We were working all through January getting ready for Valentine's Day, and we would sit back and say, OK, now we're ready. And Kim would say we're not ready, and so we would work another week and get things ready and we would sit back and say, OK, NOW we're ready for Valentine's Day. And Kim would say we are not ready. So Valentine's Day week came and we were NOT ready. We worked until midnight the first night of the week. We worked overnight the night before Valentine's Day. And we delivered flowers until after midnight on Valentine's Day because we were not ready. It was a disaster. One bright spot in the day was my friend, Gina, came along about noon with a Dwayne's pizza, and she said, “I know you, and I know you've probably been working hard, and you probably haven't eaten.” And that pizza was the most welcome pizza and the most delicious pizza I have ever had in my life. It was so nice of her to think of me in that moment because it was really needed, and it was really appreciated. o if you have anybody in your life that is an accountant doing taxes, or somebody running for public office, then you know that they're busy. I think if you brought them pizza, they would love it.

Stacy

When I moved to Fargo, my brother dropped everything and helped me and my husband move in. We had a lot of big stuff, that there was no way that I could do it. My husband's disabled, so he couldn’t do it. It was snowing, and it was miserable, but he dropped everything and came and helped us. It was a bad situation that we lived in, and so we had to move a few months later, and it was spring and the day that I chose to move it was raining. But my brother dropped everything and he helped us move. It always stuck with me that he was so selfless and dropped everything and came and helped us when he did not have to. We didn't have money. We had to get out of there fast and he was just right there to help me. A lot of people say that's what family is for. Not all family does that. I'm just very thankful that he was willing to help and able to help because my armoire and other stuff is huge and there's just no way we would have been able to get it done so it's just something that always stuck with me as kind and selfless and something I'll never forget.

Tori

When I found out that I had cancer, I had to go down to Mayo Clinic and that wasn't the problem- going to Mayo was great. The problem is that my husband has no peripheral vision, so he never drives in the heavy traffic that we find in the Twin Cities. So I always do that driving, but I wasn't going to be able to drive because I was going to have my uterus removed. A friend offered to drive us down to the Twin Cities for that Mayo Clinic surgery, and I was blown away. I mean, she just offered out of the blue. And I said, “Are you serious?” She said, “Yeah, I'll drive you down there and I'll drive you back and you know it'll be something that I'm happy to do for you, because you've helped me in the past.” I'm like, well, okay, and so she drove us down there and Ted was a nervous wreck so it was good that he didn't have to drive back. I was pretty zonked out when we had to drive back, and I wouldn't have been able to do that hard driving, soI was so grateful and surprised to have somebody do something of that magnitude for us. Then I had to go back for radiation and Ted couldn't go - he couldn't drive me because he had to work and it was going to be a week that I had to stay there. And I had another friend, a very dear friend who I've known since I moved here,  say “Well, let me drive you.” I'm like, “What?” So we went down there together. She drove us down and we had a girls week while I did this very uncomfortable radiation therapy. But again, it was like, “Wow, you would spend this time with me and help me out in this manner.” And it was completely unsolicited. She just offered, and I felt so I felt so grateful, so loved, and I can never, ever thank them enough for that kind of support when I really needed it.

Athena

My car broke down and someone came behind me that was driving the same way and they stopped and called AAA and I made it home safely. Thank you.

Keith

I went through a really big mental thing couple years back and afterwards my chosen parents helped me out a lot. Helped me get back on my feet financially, so I didn't have to worry about that. It was a really big help.

Lonnie

My husband went to my best friend and asked her for help in surprising me with flowers and she helped him do a big bouquet and balloons. It was amazing. It took both of them working together.

Shirley

When I was traveling up north to see my sister -we live about 2 1/2 hours away from each other - on the way there my tire went. I went into a gas station and I tried to get some air, but there was no air there. The person behind me heard the story and was like, ”Well, we used to have an air pump over there. Oh, no, they took it out.” And she's like, “Well, you can follow me home and get air.” But at that time, the tire even went flatter, so she's just like, “Drive really slow and, I'll call my husband and have him ready for you.” By the time I pulled up there, I had her husband and his friend ready. They actually put a plug in my tire so I was able to get all the way to my sister's house for the party. So that was a nice thing because like I said, since the gas station talked to the attendant and they she could have very much not said anything, she could just listen to the conversation, but she took the initiative and offered up for me to follow her home, get it pumped up so I could make it to a birthday party.

Sarah

I'm going to talk about my husband, who is remarkably kind to me. His name is David. We're both retired, but I do a lot of crazy stuff. I have a little business where I make and sell gnomes. I volunteer with the DFL and Moms Demand Action, and they work with a program called Be SMART, which is a program to prevent kids from being hurt by guns. I have pollinator gardens and vegetable gardens and I just do a lot of stuff and even though these aren't his particular interests, he supports me tremendously through all of them. He is always there to carry tables around, to set up a tent, to build me the new raised bed. If I'm doing a tabling event or I'm working at a craft show he will bring me a homemade salad with a with a freshly sautéed chicken breast and garbanzo beans and hard boiled eggs and homemade vinaigrette and he just does so many things to support all the things that I do. I'm very lucky that I have such a kind husband.

Martha

When I was pregnant, people gave me a baby shower, which was very kind and very nice, and I really appreciated it. But one of the most thoughtful things that someone did was one of the gifts was things that I didn't need right then. It was clothes for the baby that were an 18-month-old set, and a 24-month-old set, and diapers for two or three sizes up from newborn, things like that. “I thought, okay, that's nice, but I don't get it.” Then when my child grew out of her diapers – suddenly - because that's what babies do, I had diapers that fit. When she suddenly couldn't fit into any of her clothes? I had enough to fit her. It was just such a relief to know that those were in the closet and I could just pull them out and use them. I didn't have to be frantic about it. It really made several of my days, because she gave me two different sizes of diapers up, two different outfits that were sized up - it was great and very helpful.

Amy

In 2012 I had a doctor appointment and I got some news that I had cancer. I called my wife up and she said we're going to go for lunch and then we're going to do some geocaching - do something to get my mind off of it because there's all this uncertainty about what it is, because they can't test you for a few more days and the mind goes to a dark, dark place. So that was a great relief. Then when I went in for the testing there was a delay and the nurse talked about, you know, what's going on and things with her kids, whatever. Just to get my mind off of that unknown of what's going to be the result of the testing. So that those acts of kindness were tremendously appreciated.

Bill

The past year has been crazy. My kids’ father and I have not been on a good terms. However, things turned left and my car was taken away. I didn’t know how I was gonna get to a job, how I was gonna take my kids to school. However, a friend of mine came up and stepped up every morning, he would come and pick me up, drop the kids to school, pick the kids up, pick me up and it was a lot. But the fact that he went overboard to do that for me, I truly appreciate through the heart. It made me understand that no matter what the situation is, God always has a plan and he will bring people your way to help you out. So thank you, Joe, for being kind to me and my kids and for all that you are doing and keep doing for us, I truly appreciate it. The good Lord bless you in every way.

Desiree

I think that one of the things that women do for each other just randomly is to say something nice about, you know, somebody standing in an elevator or somebody you see in a grocery store, and you say, “Oh, I like your shoes.” A I think that's one kindness that I've received since I started doing my hair. I have never, ever liked my hair. I have very, very limp, fine hair and it's never been a positive. But since I have started wearing it purple, I have random women who will just encounter me and say, “I love your hair,” and it has made me so much more conscious of the kindness women do with each other in those ways. I've been the recipient of that thankfully many times since I started going purple.

Lyn

I'm bipolar and a lot of the last year has been really difficult for me and kind of up and down finding the right meds and going without the right meds for long periods of time. One of those days, one of the bad days, I went to Olive Garden before I had to go to church for a youth thing. But as I got my food, my mood just slid down and the waitress comes over to me and she's like, are you OK? Is the food bad? Do you not like it? And like, oh, no, I am just bipolar and as soon as you set the food in front of me, I just started feeling like crap. So she kind of tells me her story and she leaves  and I attempt to eat my food and I ask for the bill. At Olive Garden, you pay on these little like tablet kind of things and I'm looking and there's a cheesecake, a dessert on my bill. And I'm like, I didn't order that, and she comes and she says, oh, I didn't mean for you to see it, that is on the house and so I'm sorry you're feeling so bad today, but here is a little cheesecake. I finished most of it and I gave her a tip for the amount of the cheesecake and, it was a little light at the end of a pretty yucky episode.

Samantha

One kindness afforded me from my wife was an example of what I guess you'd call “tough love” from the heart encouraging me as I was recovering from some knee surgery. In February of 2020, I had a partial knee replacement. Three months later, that gave way. Well, it was tough enough recovering from that partial knee replacement -  some rehab and some therapy. Then in May it gave out and so three months after the partial knee replacement I had to go back in, they had to take that out and do a full knee replacement. That was tough. I was just coming around from the first one and I've got my walker and I'm kind of slouching across the living room floor looking at my wife and kind of weeping and sobbing a little bit here, “I don't know, Connie. I don't think I can do this”. And she just said, “Come on, Merrill, you can do this. You're tougher than that.” And so I just kind of chuckled and took her word for it that I was tougher than that and went ahead with my therapy and we're in pretty good shape as I'm sharing this a couple of years later.

Merrill

When I was little and in Sunday school my parents were unaware that we were going to be in a program because it was Palm Sunday. So my parents had dropped me off for Sunday school and as I sat in the Pew and Church getting ready to sing up front, I realized my parents were probably sitting outside waiting for me to be picked up. I wasn't feeling happy I had to leave, and I was probably going to be a big disappointment to my teacher, and I was feeling bad because the kids were kind of teasing me about getting up and going. When my teacher came up to me and leaned down to listen to what I had to say I told her and I was starting to cry, and she put her cheek against my cheek and gave me a hug and made me feel really good. She said, you go out and be with your parents. That's not a problem. And I'll see you next Sunday. And that moment made a very big difference in my life, because when I see children hurting, I'm always wanting to be right there and make sure that I comfort them the way that I was comforted as a child.

Mara

All winter long, our neighbor takes care of our snowblowing. He is just a sweetheart, and takes care of a lot of us in the neighborhood. He's on oxygen and still goes out every morning, every afternoon, every evening that it snows and takes care of his neighbors. We appreciate him so much.

Shannon

In 2021, I got really, really sick and my all my organs were really in flames, and I was living in Florida at the time. My parents drove all the way down from Oregon to Florida to help take care of me and my family. They helped us paint our house and get it ready to sell so we could move on with our lives.

Kim

I gave birth recently and while I was in Labor I had a very special nurse. I was really craving something orange and they had run out of orange Jello. So this wonderful nurse searched the entire hospital to find me an orange popsicle. And that really sticks out of my head.

Emily

I come from a very small family. I have three uncles, three aunts, and six cousins. When I started dating my now husband, he had, like, you know,  10 uncles and three aunts and 30 cousins. They would always get together and have these little family gatherings. He brought me the first time, and I was just really overwhelmed by the number of people and I couldn't keep everybody straight. And Roger, my husband, his cousin Jim is married to a woman named Marge. Marge would sit next to me for the entire gathering and point out all the people and who they belong to and who is married to who and who are whose children, and she would do that, you know, over the course of a couple of years. So by the time that we finally got married, I knew who everybody was and who belonged to who, and I actually have to remind my husband sometimes who his cousins are. He will meet them on the street and they'll be friendly and say hi and he will then say, “Who was that?” And I'll say, “Well, that was your cousin Jane, and she lives in beach, ND, and her kids names.” Or so and so. I credit Marge for helping me integrate into this very large crazy family.

Darci

My father-in-law is one of the world's unsung heroes. He's always doing nice things for people, so this is only one example of the kind of self sacrificing person he is. I care for a few public art installations and he decided he wanted to come with and help me, which was really nice of him. He just likes poking around in the garden. As we were working, I started to get rather overheated. I'm a bit of a sensitive plant in heat and it can need medical attention if it gets too bad. He kept saying okay, we should probably go home now, and I kept thinking, why is he saying this? We just got here. We're not done. Why is he insisting we go home? And he said, yeah, yeah, we should go home. So he got me home and what I didn't realize was that he left immediately after that and went and did it. He did all the weeding himself for an hour and a half without me and then came back and said,  “See? You don't have to worry about it. I got it all taken care of.” He is a person who is very generous of heart and maybe doesn't always hear how wonderful he is, but that was a specific thing he did for me that made me feel like I am loved. I am valued. I am supported by the people in my life. I really appreciate him. I'm lucky to have him as a father-in-law.

Em

We spend so much of our lives at work, and as someone who's had quite a few jobs in quite a few industries, I've learned a few things about how important kindness can be in the workplace. Just how that makes you feel different about the job that you're doing. I just started a new job about two years ago that has been one of the best jobs ever. I love the people I work with. One of the reasons for that is because there's just these little things that people do on my team that just make you feel like you're appreciated. It's not necessarily work related, but that you're seen as a human being and that you know it's not just the work, it's you as well. One of the things we always have is food. People will just bring in cookies or candy, and just not make a deal of it just kind of set it out there for everybody. Or they'll sneak candy onto your desk, little cards just show up that say, “thanks” or “hey, you did a great job with this,” and that recognition with the people that you work with I think is very important. Those are the little moments of kindness that I really remember, and it makes my day and my week sometimes to get a little note that says, “hey, you did a good,” or just walk in and there's a random Kit Kat on my desk.

Arielle

So 11 1/2 years ago I had it our last, fourth child. I was older than average, and my book group hosted a shower for me. Ourur son's name is Noah and they had a Noah's ark theme. So we have books. We have things that hang on the wall. It's just beautiful his whole ex-room, because he's now big and you know he moved on. So thanks to the group for celebrating women at all ages, and babies too.

Terese

I always tell people a true friend is somebody that when your car breaks down, that's who you can call and you know they'll come pick you up or help you out. That happened to me recently, and sure enough, that individual was there and came just like I expected and I would do the same thing for that individual. I have that mutual love and respect for them and that's my definition of a true friend.

Duane

This past weekend, my husband had a heart attack and the garden community, Miss Carol Kim, Gemma and just everybody has been such a great support system - with childcare, with food, research for insurance because we're uninsured, and they've just really come around and supported us through this and that's just been such a blessing.

Colleen

I've experienced kindness at home with my mom. She ran a daycare for 12 years, and she'd always go an extra mile to take care of the kids and make sure that they were loved in our home, even if they didn't have it at their home.

Sam

I share a lot of stories about my job and my overcommittedness with my friends and my friends have for years told me that I'm not really good to saying no. So they got together and got me this “N is for Not Now” coffee mug so that I could at least go this far. It helps. 

Melissa

My husband and I went out to eat this morning at Bootzi's cafe up in Dent, MN, and as we were sitting there waiting for our food, a gentleman walked by our table and another table and said “I got you this morning,” and paid for our meal. What a great gesture.

Shannon

I was at a Community Radio Conference in Nicaragua and I scratched the inside of my throat with a poorly peeled piece of pineapple. It got infected and my throat got an abscess in it that that was swelling and swelling and swelling. Really pretty much closed my throat. I could barely breathe and some people from Nicaragua took me to the doctor there, an urgent care clinic and the doctor prescribed penicillin. Well, before I had gone to Nicaragua a couple of my doctor friends had said there's hepatitis in Nicaragua. Don't get an injection there because you might pick up, you know, something you don't want. Well, at the time I went to the urgent care clinic, it wasn't that bad and I thought in a couple of days, I'm going to be back in the United States and I can just go to the clinic there, so I declined the penicillin. Then it turned out that my flight back to the United States with a bunch of other people from this conference had been overbooked. Heavily overbooked and in their in the disorganization of this particular airline they said, “We'll put you on a flight tomorrow. Then tomorrow they didn't put me on a flight and they said we'll put you on a flight tomorrow. And tomorrow. So my return to the United States was getting delayed while my throat was getting more and more closed. I couldn't eat anything because I couldn't swallow – I could barely get liquids down. Finally, I got on a flight and one of the other radio station people that was there, his wife had come with him. His wife was a doctor, and she ended up sitting next to me on the plane. When the plane took off, the air pressure changed and the abscess in my throat burst. I had huge amounts, copious amounts, of infected fluids coming out. I had to go to the bathroom as soon as I could, rinse my mouth and spit and get it all out, but I was able to breathe again. It turned out that the group I was traveling with had arranged for the doctor person to sit next to me and she had cleaned, sharpened, and sterilized her pocket knife before we took off so that she could give me a tracheotomy if she needed to, because they thought the change in air pressure instead of bursting the abscess might totally close the throat. I really appreciated that she was willing to be prepared to do an emergency tracheotomy on me. I'm glad she didn't have to, but I appreciate in this case the potential help.

Bill

So when my kid was about 13, I was preparing for Easter. We come from the West Coast and we always had See’s Candies for Easter. So in plenty of time I ordered See’s Candies and had it hidden away in my bedroom. See’s Candies are a little pricey, so I probably spent 50 bucks on Easter Candy, but it's a family tradition, right? But there wasn't another 50 bucks, right? It's not like I could buy it again. It’s a splurge. About a week before Easter I opened the spot where it was and the candy's gone. The containers are there, but the candy's gone. So I go to my kid and I was like, did you eat the candy? And at first it was “no”. And I was like, well, the boxes are empty. Then they admitted they saw the candy, they couldn't help themselves, and ate all the candy. So we had been working with natural consequences - with my kid “sticks and carrots” never worked. Natural consequences were the discipline philosophy that worked. So the natural consequence was, there would be no candy on Easter. So I'm lamenting in this support group that I belong to of pastors of a similar age who serve in the United Church of Christ, who started within the same five year period. We call ourselves the cohort. There's 250 of us. I'm lamenting in our chat group how disappointed I am that I don't get the present of Easter morning, right? For me, Easter morning is about watching my kid be excited about Easter baskets. Even now they're almost 20. So I wasn't going to get that. So I was sitting in this room the Thursday before Easter and the delivery comes. And it’ See’s Candies. It's a box, like this big box filled with See’s Candies, at least $50.00 worth of candy, if not more, with a note from my Pastor chat group saying that my kid needs to know that love continues. Jesus raises from the dead even when they make a mistake. So we had candy on Easter morning.

Michelle

When my then partner and me had to come to the to the US on an emergency - we literally sold everything we had in a month, packed up our kid, our little dog, and came to live in here in his brother's house. So we had no house, no money, nothing. He had kidney failure and the doctors there said if you can leave yesterday, do so, because if he stays here, he's gonna die. So we came here and we were, going to Rochester. I had given up on Christmas. We got here December 12th, 2007. So it's the middle of winter, not quite Christmas, I had a 10 month old baby and a sick husband. I didn't have the energy to put things up and just that little detail just dragged me down so much. Something that that should not be that important, but at the time with what I had, that meant a lot to me, and so I'm not going to have Christmas this year. We got in. They picked us up from the airport, gave us a tour of the cities. I had never been in the Midwest - hat was my first time. First time being that cold, first time seeing snow, first time, you name it. First time ever. So that's all nice. We drive to this tiny, small town in the middle of nowhere, literally still there, like 200 people in the whole town.  I opened the door and I walk in the house and the cinnamon smell hits me. I was, “Oh, wow!” They cleaned and decorated the house. The neighbors rallied up, and the ladies that lived next door, and his mom decorated that house for Christmas. I still get emotional about it, because I had given up on it. Just walking into that environment and realizing that these people wanted us to feel welcomed, wanted us to feel at home. Or at least a little bit at home. It just it meant the world to me at the time. And it's interesting because they did a lot more than that. There were grand gestures and things where they basically supported us throughout the whole process. But when I think back on that year -  and it was a hard, hard year - that is the highlight of my year, that moment when I walked in and I felt at home, away from home. It just inspired me to do little things for people, because sometimes you think that to make people happy, you have to do big gestures and huge things and buy them a car. Yeah. No. Sometimes it's just thinking about them, remembering what they like, and trying to put a smile on their face. And they will remember it because you remember how you feel. You don't remember what they said, what they did. But you do remember how you felt for that little thing that they did one day.

Julia

My story - the first one that came to mind because there's kind of a lot that go both ways - But this one I always like to refer to. I was a lot younger and I was working at a bar as a single mom, no health insurance to speak of or anything like that. Always need glasses. And I had fallen one day and smashed my glasses. It was kind of terrible and I went a few months without them and was very blind, so running into things and dropping food. The big joke of the bar was how blind I was. One day I get to work and my boss, Renee at the time, came up to me and hands me this huge fat card. She's like, “Open it up” so I opened it. Inside was about. $500 worth of 20s ones, fives and a card just completely signed like no white space left. The last few weeks, completely unknown to me, they gathered up people from all over that knew me to donate. A dollar here, $5 there, some more. And they all wrote and it's like, “Because we love you. Now get some freaking glasses.” And I lost it. I couldn't believe it. It was enough to get a pair for me, a pair for my daughter, and gas in my car for the next couple of weeks and I never forgot it. I pay it forward as much as I can still. It was just really heartwarming to see that that many people were probably really sick of me dropping their food, but that also cared. 

Siobhan

My wife and I have a son with special needs. With having a child with special needs, there tends to be a lot of emotional baggage and worry and concern. You tend to kind of compare your experience, and worry that you're not doing a good job, and you compare your kid to other people's kids. It's a hard place to be in. When our son was two or three years old and we were early in the process of understanding what it meant to be the parent of a special needs kid, I remember that we were in the pediatrician's office doing our checkup and our son was delayed on a lot of milestones. We were concerned about outcomes and as a parent of the special needs kid, you're often wondering if it's things you've done wrong or if there's more you could do. You always feel like there's more you could do to improve your child's outcome, and you're kind of your harshest critic. And I remember the doctor stopped us at the end of the appointment and looked at us, and he's like, “You know you guys are damn good parents. And you're doing a really good job with your son. And I just wanted to let you know that you guys are doing a great job.” And you know, I still kind of get a little bit misty I thinking about it 15 years later, that that was the first time someone had just stopped and told us that we were doing a good job. That what we were providing to our son was enough. Especially with especially kids, you always wonder if it's enough. It just meant the world to us both and I still think about it today. I still talk about that doctor, and how amazing he was, and what an impact he made on us in a really scary, vulnerable time in our lives..

Mike

In December of 2021, myself, my husband, and both of my children came down with COVID. It was two days before Christmas and so we had to put out the whole, “Sorry, we can't come to Christmas, my daughters are going to miss basketball practices, and what have you.” So we sent out the text to my daughter’s teammates, families, let them know they're not going to be at this activity, got their usual responses, “Feel better, hope everything's OK”. Christmas Eve one of my daughter's teammates’ families dropped off a care basket on our front step full of treats, presents, wine for when we were feeling better. And it really helped brighten a dim Christmas in our minds. The kids were so excited because we weren't able to go out and see family or have a decent meal because we weren't at the grocery store. But it was such a nice gesture. I know that they didn't think anything of it, but it was so much appreciated and made us feel very loved.  

Megan

Last summer, my basement had a massive water leak and it ended up flooding. I had the contractor  out to assess the situation and then they gave me a brief period of time. They're like, “You have to clean everything out of your basement, we'll be here tomorrow morning at 9:00.” And this is like three in the afternoon. So I ran home from work and I just shot a quick message to my girlfriend saying what was going on because we had plans that evening. Then about an hour later, my friend shows up with reinforcements, with boxes and totes, and they helped me pack up my entire basement and get things moved out to the garage. I didn't even have to ask for help. They were just there and gave it to me. 

Gail

Today I'm going to share with you an act of kindness or acts of kindness that have been bestowed upon me. I work in a high-pace, fast-paced environment in higher education and oftentimes the work is very demanding and challenging and takes a lot of involvement. The simple act of sending a thank you or “we appreciated your help” note has been a big deal. Oftentimes, you know, we collect these and we reflect back on them right when the times get lonely, when the times get hard. So I want to encourage you. To continually be kind, be well, and show others that you appreciate them. 

Jered

The most kind thing that my mother ever did for me was when I was in the hospital delivering my first child. I had a C-section and I was very, very sick. She went to my house while I was in the hospital and cleaned my entire house. So when I came home with this brand-new baby, the most special thing that's ever happened to me, into this wonderfully clean home, and she had made all these meals for me too. They weren't the ones in the freezer. It was meals were made and I could just eat and I could take care of my baby. And she sat there and she would take the night shift and rock my kiddo for hours on end. She wouldn't put him down, and so I could actually get some sleep in between. Hands down, the best thing that's ever happened for me.

Bridget

One act of kindness that I won't soon forget is my friend Kipp Gabriel, the rapper also known as Kipp G. local From Bismarck Fargo. Right at the end of the Lunch Aid 2019 fundraiser- that was our first one. My wife and I put one of those on every year - Kipp worked at an HVAC place, a heating, cooling, and electrical. They were doing a contest where he could nominate someone in the community that he thought deserved a new furnace. So he nominated me for this thing, and then he went around and collected testimonials from people that we both knew. And just to be able to read the testimonials was  like one of the greatest moments of my life, I definitely, you know, broke down and got a little misty reading through these things, but it really meant a lot that he took it on himself to go out and get all these people to say nice stuff about Jason. I'll never really forget that. I appreciate him for that. So hugs to my man, Kipp G. Rest in power. 

Jason

I am a parent of a toddler and transitioning into parenthood is very hard. I especially struggled with postpartum and one of the nicest things that was done for me is my mom didn't even really say, "Do you want me to help or do you not want me to help?” She's like, “I'm gonna come up and I'm gonna help you.” So she came up and I told her I was overwhelmed and I don't even know where to start. And she would just do a load of laundry, and then she'd be like, “OK, let's do more laundry.” She literally saved my sanity as a new parent by just coming up. She lives in Missouri, so she drove all the way from Missouri up here to Fargo, and she would help us get caught up on laundry and help us cook and catch up on all of those little things that sometimes are really super overwhelming. So that's probably the nicest thing that someone has done for me that has really taken a huge weight off of my shoulders. 

Natalie

A few years ago I was living in a pretty terrible apartment. There were a lot of health issues and health violation issues and it got to the point where I just needed to get out of there, like, super fast. It was a situation where I was rushing to find somewhere to go and trying to pack and was working three jobs and I was beyond stressed and I didn't know if I was going to be able to get everything packed up and moved and handled. I had a couple of friends who started a group chat on Messenger and found a few other friends to just come and pack all my stuff up while I was working one of my three jobs and just get it all in boxes and organized, set in the garage, ready to move out. They got a truck lined up to get it all to the next place I was going to be living and it was just such a huge relief to just have people who were willing to do something so huge like that. That's a stressful situation to be in and sometimes you can't handle all of the moving parts completely by yourself and having someone else just step in and be like, “Hey, I got this part for you, just don't worry about this, I've got this section, you handle the rest of it.” ,t was kind of one of the best, nicest, most helpful things somebody's ever done for me. 

Jonah

Our next-door neighbor Ron. Some weeks ago I'd had a small surgery, after which the doctor said two weeks no strenuous exercise. We live in Milwaukee and it snows. So I looked out front one day to find out that our next-door neighbor had gone ahead and cleared all the snow, not just from our front sidewalk where the city will care a lot more, but it also cleared off the space behind the van so the vehicle could get out. And a walkway back to the door so that lMysie and I could walk out to the garage, walk out to the car without having to worry about walking through the snow or slipping.   

Carlos

Upon separation after a 13-year marriage, I was very, very depressed, not doing good. My neighbor popped out and was saying “hi” to me. She knows I love my dogs and she was like, “I haven't seen you going on walks lately” and we kind of got into my personal stuff and she has a key to my house and I came home one day and this woman just was like, “taking your dogs out. No problem.” And it was really important to me. 

Wil

There is a company that produces these textures. You buy them online and download it onto your computer or phone, and normally you would just wire it to your printer and print it out. But I don't have a color printer, so I do it at FedEx. Problem was that to use the FedEx store you have to use your Gmail to send it. But this particular file that I wanted to print was too big to use in Gmail, so I was stuck. I posted it on Facebook asking if anybody had a computer printer. A bunch stepped forward and I went over to a friend’s house and he printed it out very quickly for me and that was very helpful. 

David

I've had some surgeries here in the last couple of months and have gotten so many nice get-well cards and notes from people and homemade chicken noodle soup ,and apple juice, and bread and just people have been so kind and it's just so nice to be remembered when you are flat on your back in the bed for a couple of weeks.  

Arlyce

I have been carless for a couple of months now and I have a friend that takes me to and from work. That just makes life easier for me. I live with my sister and we have a lot of car issues, so just having  somebody to take me to work and then back home or get some food, it makes a big difference. 

Sumoiyo 

I was in a really bad mood and had talked to my friend about it previously and at work out-of-the-blue I just got a bouquet of flowers that were was sent to me from my friend. It had a yellow mug with a smiley face on it and it had white and yellow flowers in it. Needless to say, it really cheered me up and got me out of my bad mood and it was very unexpected and very appreciated. 

Karen

I have a friend who's willing to give me rides  to events and things, because I don't drive. It's a long story why I haven't learned to drive, but I've had people be willing to pick me up, drop me off to go to specific things, grocery stores, and I'm always thankful because this is not a workable city. But this friend in particular has been the most willing to offer - even though it's way out of her way to come pick me up, go to something, and then drop me off and then go home - it adds commutes to her and gyeah, never, never said anything about it. She just tells me when she's available and offers the rides. And I don't want to take it for granted because a lot of people are not willing to do that and they don't have to, but it's just - something really sweet. 

Ibtissem

People have helped me in huge ways. I've had strangers help push me out of a snowdrift, and I've had people help me when I was deathly sick and all kinds of things. This stands out because it seemed so optional. My wife had gone to stay with her mother, who was very ill. Her mother died and I needed to go join her and it was far away and we really couldn't bring our dog. We have a big old dog who doesn't get on well with other dogs though she gets on great with people. We couldn't figure out what to do and I was talking about it in in a group of people and one of them said, “I'll come stay at your house with your dog,” and she's a person who works full time. So she couldn't be there all day, but that's fine. And she came, and she just was so responsible about how she did it that I had no worries about it. It was such a relief to be able to go help my wife and her family in their difficult time without being worried that my dog was fighting with other dogs at a kennel. I just felt it was so generous of her to to do that and so quickly and I appreciated it so much. 

Bill

I had a very stressful, terrible week. It just sucked. So I decided on Friday that I was feeling better and I wanted to just do something nice for myself and I was going to go to a nice new restaurant downtown and treat myself to lunch. I sat bB myself at the bar and was eating my lunch and an older gentleman came in and sat not next to me, but like there was a space between us. He ordered a glass of wine in the middle of the day and he was enjoying himself, too, I guess. We struck up a conversation, talked about a wide variety of topics and when it came time for me to pay my bill, he  took out his card and said “Oh no, I'll get this”. And I said, “oh, no, sir, you don't have to do that,” and he was like, “Let me do this for you. Are you blessed?” and I said, “Well, yes,” and he said, “I'm very blessed, too, and I would like to bless you a little bit more today.”It was really sweet and it really made my day and my week. 

Danielle

I have a friend who, no matter what I say, even if I tell her that I'm totally fine and that I don't need anything at the time, she will surprise me with little bits of treats. When my husband was going through cancer, one of the things that she did was pack me a bag of my favorite things to get through his treatments. So there was a book to read, some of our favorite treats to eat, chapstick and lotion for us because the chemo treatments dried out his skin so bad. So that was really nice. Also, when I was going through some health issues and she asked if I needed anything I of course told her no and she showed up at the appointment and sat with me while I was doing my transfusion, because she knows how much I hate needles. It's nice to have friends that don't listen to you when you say you don't need anything and they show up anyways and that has been an amazing thing for me. 

Teresa

When I first moved to Grand Forks for grad school, I knew that I was going to have to come out to be myself full-time, and I was terrified. It was the beginning of the second week of the semester, my first semester teaching undergrad classes, and I was drafting an e-mail in my office coming out to the department. I was terrified and one of my cohort who would end up becoming my best friend in the program looked everything over and talked to me. I told her what was up and she gave me the courage that I needed to do that and to be myself. Not only did she do that, but she kept me going through the hardest of it early on.  I wouldn't be the person I am without her, and I probably wouldn't be alive to be without the love and support she showed me. 

Astra

When I first started College in Green Bay, the ride to school was so long and the bus stopped so early that sometimes I slept on campus, on campus grounds. I went to a club meeting and I found a group that seemed really fun. They did medieval reenact and dress up really pretty and I went to their meeting later that night. And I hadn't eaten and I was going to be sleeping outside again and I was telling them that , and then somebody drove me home and they bought me some food, so I wasn't cold or hungry. And I've been with the SCA ever since. Now I try to help other people who are doing reenactment stuff and might need a little bit of help. couple weeks ago we came home from work and my neighbor was snow plowing my driveway. So that was nice. It's nice to know that you have people who care about you. 

Quin

Somebody at work had paid for somebody's order on top of their own without realizing it, and they were completely fine with it. And then that person., whose order got paid for paid for next person. It was a good moment trying this. 

Alex

My friend Sally was very kind to me when I had some car trouble last fall. She gave me a ride to work a few days and picked me up afterwards and that was very nice. 

Lynn

A couple weeks ago we came home from work and my neighbor was snow plowing my driveway. So that was nice. It's nice to know that you have people who care about you. 

Sandra

My faith in humanity has been waning significantly of late. This afternoon, I go outside to work on the plow ridge at the end of my drive. I am just getting started chopping it with my shovel when a skid steer appears coming down the hill. I was not in the street, so I paid him no mind until he stopped in front of me and turned. I stepped back a bit and proceeded to watch him scrape the ridge down to asphalt, push the loose snow into a pile, then pick up and deposit said snow out of the way on the curb. We made brief eye contact as he turned back to his course, I gave him a head nod and salute of appreciation, and then, as quickly as he arrived, he was gone. I have no idea who this person was, but I needed to know today that there are still genuinely kind people out there. Thank you for reminding me, whoever you are.

Chris

My mom signed up with Meals on Wheels and at first was signed up only one or two days a week. As her dementia progressed, she started showing up every day. The nice lady that delivered Meals on Wheels saw what was going on and would give my mom her own mother’s meal because she had a chance to run back and grab an additional meal and her mom was at the end of the line so for her it was no big deal—it was so very gracious and I very much appreciated that.

Rodney

When my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer a friend of mine, who knew I would be taking him to most of his appointments and treatments, sent me a hospital bag—pre-filled with refillable water bottles and snacks and other small items—that I could just grab on my way out the door. Having that bag with me saved my sanity more than once when the appointments and schedule didn’t go to plan.

Brandi

Last Mother’s Day a neighbor of mine brought me a small present. It was just a little plastic cup with some candy in it, but it was so sweet and thoughtful of him and it really made my day.

Jeri

I remember feeling so much less guilty when I was running for office when friends would have my husband and daughter over for dinner if I was tied up with something for the campaign, or just make sure they had what they needed when I was absent.

Dina

When you have a chronic disease, people mostly sort of forget you’re sick. I have one friend that texts me every so often just to check on me and see how I am doing. It’s just a text, but it means so much to me.

Gretchen