Paying Forward A Random Act Of Kindness (A Giveaway!!)
Haley Joel Osment in the wonderful 'Pay it Forward' film, demonstrating how this whole thing works...
An amazing thing happened to me yesterday. Calli, Tristin, and I were hanging out while my wife had to go to the doctor for a post-pregnancy checkup.
We wound up going to WalMart and Calli was being absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen such a sweet, well-behaved little girl! So I decided I’d treat her to a $5-$6 toy. Nothing too extravagant, but something to thank her for being so good.
We’re in what I call the pink aisle. You know, the one with Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony, and anything else that comes in a pink box. She said, ‘Daddy I want that one!’ about everything $20 and up. I said a couple of times, ‘Calli, I’m not trying to spend a lot of money.’ It truly wasn’t about the money, it was more about getting her not to want a $20 toy every time we step into a WalMart.
Another customer must have heard me, because she walked by and said, ‘Here,’ slipping something between the cart handle and my hand, ‘maybe this’ll help Daddy out.’
Not even looking, I tried to hand it back, ‘I really don’t need your money!’ I said, both astonished and embarrassed.
‘No.’ she said, backing away. ‘Buy her something.’ and she vanished faster than homemade rolls on Thanksgiving.
I looked down at my hand and got dizzy.
There was a twenty dollar bill staring up at me from my palm.
She had a kid in her cart, too. Not to pass judgment, but she didn’t look any more well off than me. (Though looks can be very deceiving in ski country.)
In this economy, I felt horrible excepting some kind of handout from a complete stranger.
But Calli and I picked out two My Little Ponies, and spent the $20 well.
So here’s what I want to do: Since I can’t pay that nice lady back, I would like to pay this random act of kindness forward.
I’m going to give a $20 WalMart gift card away here on my blog.
What You Have To Do:
Basic blog giveaway stuff, you get one entry per item below:
1. Tweet about the giveaway with a link back to this post.
2. Comment below how you would spend the $20.
3. Include in your comment how you would then pay this good deed forward. (Hint: This does not have to be monetary in nature, get more creative than I did!)
Earn 5 entries if you blog about Random Acts of Kindness or Paying it Forward, and include a link back to this blog. Be sure to comment here to let me know about your post!
I will use random.org to determine the winner. The deadline to enter will be Friday, November 13 (lucky, huh?) at midnight.
If you include your twitter handle in your entries I will
a) follow you for life, and
b) notify you by email and twitter DM if you win! (Another pay it forward, since I recently won a giveaway from Coupon Dad, and missed the email. He DM’ed me to let me know so I wouldn’t miss out on my prize! Thanks again, Coupon Dad!)
Incidentally, the WalMart gift card can come in two forms:
1) The eGift Card Instant gratification! You’ll receive the card through your email in 24-48 hours of winning. This card can be used at walmart.com only. If you choose ‘site to store’ as your shipping option, none of your gift card’s balance will go to shipping! You’ll simply pick up your merchandise at your local store when it arrives.
2) Snail Mail This will take a little longer to receive your winnings, but you’ll be able to use the card at any WalMart store.
For the FTC’s consideration: This giveaway is in no way endorsed or supported by WalMart. I simply chose a WalMart gift card because that is where the above related random act of kindness took place. The money is my own hard-earned cash that I am using to help spread a little holiday cheer…
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Tags: Barbie, Calli, Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony, Pay it Forward, Random act of kindness, Random.org, Strawberry Shortcake, Tristin, Wal-Mart
What a great act of kindness! Generosity, in any form, is always a wonderful thing to see. I will be tweeting this. If I would win, I would buy a case of Coors Light. Not really, because if I win I want you to take that gift card and give it to your local soup kitchen, church or any organization you see fit that is working toward putting Thanksgiving Dinners on peoples tables or presents under the trees of those who struggle to do it on their own.
WeaselMomma´s last blog ..Fairy Godmother Wanted
Being a parent that struggles financially, I know how hard it is to budget. Especially when you have to buy 4 boxes of diapers a month. If I won, I would hang out in the baby section of Wal-Mart and give the gift card to a parent there.
Who doesn’t want their diapers paid for?
Eric´s last blog ..Barn Wars: Attack of the Clones
Very cool way to give back, if I were to somehow win I want you to do what Weaselmomma suggested, that is how I see the money best being used as we approach the holiday season. BTW, I just put your prize in the mail. My son has been sick and this was the first chance I had to run to the post office.
PJ Mullen´s last blog ..A little bisque is good for the soul
This is a great way to keep it going! I love the pay it forward idea. I’ve waited all day to post about this because I wanted to give it some thought. The idea that I came up with was to have my 3 year old go to Walmart and look for gifts to place in the local giving tree at the hospital for a child in need of a christmas gift. I loved the idea of WeaselMomma though, as well. Thanks for giving the inspirational daily thought. -Jason
I saw in this morning’s paper that Wal Mart has great deals on Thanksgiving dinner items. You can feed a family of eight for–you guessed it–$20. I’ve been monitoring my local food pantry for what they need, and right now they need items for Thanksgiving dinner. With coupons, I bet I can get even more than they say, plus they match competitors’ ad prices. So my pledge to you is I will pay that $20 forward right away if I win a snail mail card.
God bless the lady who disappeared.
Stephanie Reed´s last blog ..A Recipe for Writing
Very nice! I would buy toys and donate them to Toys for Tots, but then in one of the toys I would slip in a note and $20 and ask the recipient parents to do the same thing…
Ripple, ripple, ripple…
Kevin W. Grossman´s last blog ..The primordial wild-eyed gyrations of nonsensical screech and howl.
The church that I go to is collecting WalMart gift cards which will be given to people in the congregation and in the neighborhood who would not have much of a Christmas otherwise. If you or anybody else would like to send any, preferably in $20 denominations so they can be spread out equally, let me know and I’ll give you an address. Thanks.
This is so awesome. Great idea to pay it forward! I would turn it over to our local food pantry.
Melisa with one S´s last blog ..Face It, This Isn’t Your Best Face.
[...] · View commentsComments Last Month Justin at Howefitz.com had a contest called “paying forward a random act of kindness” and I was the WiNNeR!!!! The premise of his reasoning for this contest was based on his [...]
Twitter: twistedxtian
says:
That’s awesome. I love random acts of kindness. I will regularly pay for the person behind me’s order when going through the drive-thru at Tim Hortons. Sometimes it’s just a buck or so for coffee, sometimes it’s $20+ for a bunch of coffees and donuts. And it’s fun how it works its way around. Quite often the person who’s coffee I paid for will pay for the next person’s and the cycle continues.
It doesn’t take much to make someone’s day, and it’s a great feeling when you do.