Mar 5, 2013
An Ohio teen, grieving over the February death of her 89-year-old great-grandmother, has begun an incredible quest in her memory: to perform 89 random acts of kindness for total strangers over the next 18 months.
“Some of her last words were, ‘I don’t want anybody to be upset.’ And I was really upset for a few days,” Samantha Manns, 18, told her hometown Ohio paper, the Chillicothe Gazette ... “Then I thought, maybe I can’t be happy right now, but I can do things to make other people happy.”
She launched her plan back in February at a McDonald's drive-thru, where she paid the $5 bill of the customer behind her. It was simple, really, and made a total stranger's day.
The customer, she said, cried tears of joy. “I saw it in my rear-view mirror,” Manns told Yahoo! Shine. “It made me feel pretty good.”
She repeated that deed a few days later, which immediately started a chain of several other customers paying for the folks behind them. Other random acts: donating items to the Humane Society, hanging out with orphaned puppies there and “being a happy presence,” and baking a birthday cake for a friend. She’s also been inspiring others to follow her lead on her Facebook page, 89 Acts of Kindness, by offering packets with good-deed suggestions, plus a photo and bio of Manns’ late great-grandmother, Virginia Booth, whom she called “Jinjey.”
“It’s crazy how many people have asked me for the packets,” Manns said.
Other plans in the works include filling a stranger's gas tank, and paying for someone's groceries. She's also set up suggestion box email for supporters to share ideas about her next moves and how they can help. In the meantime, Manns is updating her Facebook followers with new acts of kindness almost every day. "I baked a cake for a man who probably thought I forgot when his birthday is -- but we'll see how it goes, and I'll log about it on here," she posted recently. (It went well.)...
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Doing good deeds would be a particularly appropriate memorial to Booth, she added, as the octogenarian was a kind and giving person. “She was like the Golden Rule put in motion,” Manns said. “And she was a really big influence in my life.”
That was especially true in recent years, when Manns spent time in and out of psychiatric hospitals after being diagnosed with an eating disorder, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety as a result of being bullied in high school.
“Anytime I was in the hospital she was always right there. I knew I could count on her,” Manns said. “She came to the psychiatric hospital the last time I was there and told me I was looking good and doing fine and that I was going to make it. It was really nice to hear those words of encouragement.” :heart:
Today Manns is living in Columbus, a freshman at the Vet Tech Institute with the aim to become an animal cruelty investigator. She lives with a psychiatric service dog, a Great Dane-pit bull mix that “recognizes panic attacks and gives me something tactile to focus on,” the student explained...
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-livi...-with-random-acts-of-kindness--165540432.html
By Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News
A decorated veteran took quite a risk in getting his new friend from the sandbox to the litter box.
And along the way, Staff Sgt. Jesse Knott found an unlikely ally in his elaborate plan to evacuate his adopted cat from the war zone in Afghanistan.
In an interview with KPTV, Knott explains that he met his pet cat, Koshka, at his base of operations inside the war-torn country. Koshka was a stray cat, serving a practical purpose as the unofficial mouse catcher. At first glance, Koshka was the "purrfect" weapon.
However, not having a real owner, the cat was often subjected to neglect and cruelty.
"He was showing some signs that people weren't taking very good care of him," Knott said. “I found paint in his fur a couple of times. And then, people took clippers and shaved his back.”
And as Koshka adapted to life inside Knott’s small workspace, the two formed a tight bond. In fact, it was in the aftermath of a bloody battle that Koshka provided Knott with some much-needed solace.
"I'd lost hope in myself. I'd lost faith. Then all of a sudden this cat came over, and it was like ‘hey, you are you,'" he said.
But that same act of kindness made it clear to Knott that if he wanted to do what was best for Koshka, then he had to get his beloved cat out of Afghanistan and to his family home in Oregon.
"He pulled me out of one of my darkest times, so I had to pull him out of one of his darkest places," he told the station.
That’s when Knott staged an elaborate and risky evacuation plan for his cat. First, he enlisted the help of a local Afghan interpreter who transported the cat to Kabul.
Both the cat and the interpreter were at risk. Knott had to trust that the man would take care of the cat, but he also knew that if the man were discovered to be helping an American, his own life would be at risk.
"The risk to him was immense," Knott said. “This is a cat with a purple collar and an American-brand cat carrier, going halfway across Afghanistan. Going across God knows how many Taliban checkpoints.”
But the interpreter did eventually get Koshka to the airport in Kabul. From there, Knott’s family spent $3,000 to fly Koshka to Oregon, detouring through Islamabad, Pakistan, and New York City.
Knott himself has since left Afghanistan and is now stationed in Washington state. His service in the military will soon be over, and he says he can’t wait to be permanently reunited with the animal that meant so much to him during a time of physical and emotional vulnerability.
"He was my saving grace," Knott told KPTV. "He kept me alive during that tour."
I posted this in Unique's Animal Awareness thread, but also wanted to give this man his due respect here... Some humans can be so incredible and selfless!
Sam Simon, 'The Simpsons' Co-Creator Dying From Cancer,
To Donate Fortune To Charity
Love him very much for the charity he proves the legacy he is leaving.. :heart: God Bless you, Sam....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...fortune_n_3659809.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
but the manager reportedly didn't mind. :smt023
