Teen's simple act of kindness changed a young mother's outlook

Nineteen-year-old Kent State University student Mackenzie Mauller ordered her coffee at the local Starbucks drive-thru. As she sometimes does, she paid for coffee for the person behind her in line, then went on about her day. 

The recipient of this small kindness was 32-year-old Nicole Clawson, a mother of two. Clawson was going through some tough times, and was at Starbucks to give herself a rare treat. The generosity of this stranger buying her coffee made her cry. 

As Clawson pulled into her neighborhood, she spotted Mauller's car parked just a few doors down from her own home. The two were neighbors! Clawson wrote a lengthy thank you note and tucked it in Mauller's mailbox.

“I felt it necessary for you to know that what you did for me was more than just a coffee,” Clawson wrote. "It was something that has turned my whole day around, put tears in my eyes and a smile on my face and I feel so grateful.”

The note went viral. 

The two met in person, and Mauller has offered to babysit for Clawson's young children sometime. Mauller says, "It has made me realize truly how much you can impact someone’s day just by being kind.”

Bus driver stops his route to help a blind passenger across a construction zone

Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident Gene Hubbard has been riding the transit bus to work for years. The 69-year-old is blind, and knows exactly how to navigate from the bus stop to his place of employment. 

As bus driver Thaddaus Turner approached Hubbard's usual spot, he saw it was blocked by construction. Despite knowing he is responsible to keep the bus on schedule, he stopped the bus and followed Hubbard down the stairs. He then took the man's arm and led him safely across the construction area.  

A driver in oncoming traffic snapped a couple photos and a video of this small kindness. Without knowing either Hubbard or Turner's identity, he shared the video with local news outlets, who in turn broadcast the good deed. 

Turner dismissed his act as something he and his fellow bus drivers do most every day. Hubbard praised Turner's kindness. “If I don’t have a regular locating point to start from, I may as well be in the middle of the ocean.” 

Small kindness of Waffle House waitress goes viral, lands her a scholarship

Laura Wolf was eating at a Waffle House in La Marque, Texas earlier this month. She overheard an elderly customer on oxygen ask a passing waitress for help. He said his hands weren't working well and needed help cutting his ham. Eighteen-year-old Evoni Williams was that passing waitress, and she did what she always does - stopped and helped. Laura captured the small kindness on her phone and shared it on Facebook. The post went viral.

As word spread locally, Evoni was thrown into the spotlight. The public learned she works at Waffle House to save for her college education where she plans to major in business. Last week, various officials met her at the Waffle House including media to record the event. The mayor issued a proclamation, declaring Thursday Evoni Williams Day. She was given a huge vase of flowers and got to meet Laura, the woman who captured the kindness to begin with. Then, a representative from Texas Southern University came forward. He presented Evoni with a $16,000 scholarship to be used toward four semesters' tuition.

Evoni is understandably delighted with the accolades, but doesn't quite see what all the fuss is about. She says, "I was just doing what I do every day."

Anonymous donor tracked down decades later - and a scholarship is founded in her name

Hilde Back knows the power of spreading kindness. As youngsters, she and her brothers had fled Nazi Germany for Sweden. Their parents perished in the camps. Hilde has never forgotten the warm welcome the children received as strangers in Sweden and the opportunities they were given to create a new life there.

She was teaching preschool several decades later when she heard about a program her school's administrator was starting. It would fund primary and secondary education for gifted children in Nairobi. Hilde jumped at the chance to give this opportunity to a stranger in a land she'd never visited. All she learned about the child was this: His name was Chris. He was 5 or 6 years old. His older sister wrote a few letters to Hilde, then those petered out. She kept up her contributions anyway.

Fast forward to 2002. The Swedish Ambassador in Nairobi contacted 80-year-old Hilde. The child she sponsored all those years ago wanted to meet his patron to say thank you. Chris Mburu had earned degrees from the University of Nairobi and Harvard Law School and worked for the United Nations as a Human Rights Advisor. The two met, and not surprisingly, they got along well.

Hilde and Chris have met a number of times since. A documentary about Hilde and Chris' story called A Small Act aired on HBO in 2010, and won awards at various film festivals.

In tribute to Hilde's kindness and to continue its spread, Mburu started a scholarship in her name. Hilde has flown to Kenya to visit Chris and to personally see the effect this fund has on the students it supports. To date, 673 scholarships have been awarded to sponsor education for children in Kenya. All because Hilde decided to pass it on.

The WalMart clerk's simple kindness went viral

Last week, Spring Herbison Bowlin was on the checkout line at the Clarkson, Mississippi WalMart. The customer ahead of her was an elderly man. When the clerk rang up his order, he looked back at Bowlin and apologized, then dug in his pockets for change. Holding the handfuls of change, he counted and recounted, then got flustered. He looked back at Bowlin and apologized again. His hands shook.

The cashier took hold of his hands and reassured him. Dumping all the change on the counter, she told him, "This is not a problem, honey. We will do this together." And they did. Bowlin snapped a photo of this small kindness.

When it was her turn to checkout, she thanked the clerk for helping the elderly gentleman and being so patient with him. The clerk brushed away her praise. "'You shouldn't have to thank me, baby. What's wrong with our world is we've forgotten how to love one another." 

Back home, Bowlin posted this small interaction on Facebook. The post went viral. Apparently, tens of thousands of us crave this sort of decency.