(During my senior year of high school, my mother passed away from stage-four lung cancer on the day before Thanksgiving. Since her passing, it has been a really difficult time for my family and with the holidays being right around the corner makes it a lot harder for us money wise. My mother was well known around my school district for being on the school board and volunteering within the community so during her battle and after her passing, my school has been nothing but great to my family. During the final class on the day before school lets out for Christmas break, I am called down to the principal’s office and when I see my dad sitting in the office waiting for me, I am not really sure what to expect, until the principal hands me a gift bag.)

Principal: “I know this has been a really tough time for your family and I wanted to give you my deepest condolences once again for your loss. [My Name] is a wonderful student and your family is well-respected within our district. We wanted to do something a little bit special for your family for the holidays.

(I open the bag and see a bunch of Christmas cards, gift cards for different restaurants and stores, and a bunch of Christmas cookies and candy inside, and look back at my principal speechless.)

Principal: “Your family has been a wonderful addition to our district and we couldn’t appreciate everything your mother did for us. Some of your teachers and other staff members in this school have each bought a gift card to a restaurant or store to help make this difficult time a little easier for you. I have a list of the staff members who helped contribute and I will read the names to you.”

(As the principal reads the list names of everyone, my father and I looked at the gift cards and each of them are worth more than 100 dollars. When he finishes, my dad and I are both close to tears and I am too speechless to even speak.)

Dad: “I don’t even know how to thank you for what you’re doing for my family.”

Principal: “You don’t have to thank me. [My Name] is a wonderful student and all of her teachers love having her in their classes. And [Mother] will be missed by everyone in this district. This is our way for giving back to you for all that you have done for our school. If there is anything else we can do for your family, please don’t hesitate to ask. We are here for you.”

(My dad and I left the principal’s office a couple minutes later in tears. It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done to us during an extremely difficult time. My father wasn’t sure how he was going to get through Christmas after the funeral expenses and the gift cards have helped us a lot!)

This happened three years ago:

My roommate and I are on our way back from the store (I am driving us in my car) when we see an assisted living bus sideswipe the living crap out of a parked pickup truck. It is almost like it is happening in slow-motion, and it makes a loud grinding noise. My roommate and I just sit there with our hands on our faces in disbelief.

I memorize the license plate number and the company written on the bus, but because my friend has to get back to our apartment to meet up with her mom and catch a flight, we have to leave immediately. I drop her off and immediately go back out to where the truck is. It is still there, so I write a note explaining exactly what happened, leaving my secondary email address in case she needs to get back to me for something. I am not sure how that kind of thing works, but if a witness is needed, I want to be available.

That night, I get an email asking for my phone number, and I provide it. The owner of the truck has called to thank me personally, and we have a nice conversation. She wants my mailing address to send me what she says is a “small gift card,” so I give her my dorm room mailbox address.

Cut to a week or so later. She mails me a nice letter saying that the company’s insurance paid for the repairs, which would have been about $2000 and a lot more of a hassle had I not written my note. She also gave me a gift card. I am expecting $10-20, but much to my surprise, it is $100! That card gets me out of a few tight spots, and even after I use it up I keep it in my car, where it still is today.

I’m terrible about getting back to people, so I never did get back to her, although now I feel like looking through my email and seeing if I can find her and let her know about this website. If she ever reads this, I’d like to say “thank you so much for your generosity, and I’m glad I was able to help you!”

I delivered pizza years ago while in college. One night, I am waiting at the entrance to an apartment building for the customer when I see a pedestrian get hit by a car. He is tossed in the air and lands on the pavement hard.

This was before cell phones are everywhere, so when the customer comes to the door I tell him to call 911. His reaction is to instead run to the curb to see the poor pedestrian lying in the street. Someone else says they have called for help.

I stay to give my name to the police in case they need to talk to me, and then go to deliver the other order I have in the car. When that customer comes to the door, he looks at me and asks what is wrong. I tell him what I had seen, and he has me come into his house to sit down and have a glass of water. Not one word about his order being late or cold at all.

Once I had my bearings, he sent me back to the restaurant. Where I learned that 1) the pedestrian had died, and 2) the second customer had called to report what happened, and tell my manager I needed the rest of the night off. So thanks to the second customer for helping make up for that first jerk.

(I’m swinging by the supermarket to pick up just one thing… a bottle of Midol. All I want to do is get home and relax. I’ve paid and am actually about to climb in my car when I hear someone shouting, and turn to see the cashier, a young girl, running after me.)

Cashier: “This is for you.” *she hands me a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels*

Me: “Oh… uh, I didn’t buy these. They must belong to someone else.”

Cashier: “No, I know. I got them for you. I always crave these on my period and they make me feel better, so I thought they might do the same for you.”

Me: *shocked* “Oh… wow! That’s so sweet of you! Thank you!”

Cashier: “You’re welcome. Feel better.” *smiles, turns, and trots off*

(It was a really minor thing, but it was such a sweet gesture for a complete stranger to try and make my day brighter when she saw I was hurting and it meant a lot. I wrote into the supermarket company office about what an amazing employee she is, and I hope she never loses that wonderful spark of thoughtfulness and kindness.)

Hey, y’all. I posted the story ‘Making Sure the Survivors are Surviving,’ about my amazing Grandma.

She passed away a few days ago, and I was reading through ‘Not Always Hopeless’ to try and cheer myself up when I found the story I’d posted about her. It felt like getting a little bit of her back, and it was the best I’ve felt since getting the news.

Thank you, thank you, for making things a little less hopeless.