In Puno, Peru, Maria adjusts her friend Rosa’s hat, which nearly flew off while Rosa wove a sweater. Rosa: “Thank you for catching it before the wind carried it away, or I would have had to run down the mountain after it!” Ana Caroline de Lima/The Everyday Projects
On Nov. 13, we marked the 27th World Kindness Day and asked readers to share acts of kindness that left lasting impressions. Your responses were compelling, heartwarming and unexpected — reminders that goodness persists amid grim headlines. Do small acts matter? Your stories say yes.
Teacher Steps Up
In second grade, I had only one pair of shoes with holes in the soles. My parents couldn’t afford new ones, so I missed school. My teacher, Mrs. Wortz, called my mom, learned why I wasn’t in class, then said, “Get her ready for school in the morning and I will come pick her up.” The next day she drove me to a Buster Brown store and bought me new shoes. Years later, after she retired, she gave me her library of books. Her kindness changed my life. — Teresa Staats, Ohio
Grief Meets Grace
My husband died of COVID at 53 after 40 days in the hospital, before vaccines. I called the hospital constantly and encountered countless kindnesses: a nurse who sat with him and looked at our photos, a nurse who bathed him while he was intubated so he could attend our daughter’s wedding by Zoom, a palliative team that listened and helped with decisions, and staff who comforted me while I said goodbye. Colleagues from his 26 years as a UPS driver attended a Zoom Mass and then, on Father’s Day, came to our house and did our yard work in his honor. We will always remember “Wonder Lizzie” and the compassion shown to us. — Patricia Amaro, Arizona
Drive-Thru Kindness, Supersized
After reading about buying coffee for the next person in line, I tried it at Dunkin’. I started paying for the car behind me and asked the cashier to tell them, “Have a nice day and pay it forward.” It felt good, and the staff nicknamed me “The Tacoma Dude.” One day the car ahead of me had already paid for my order after recognizing my truck. Another time I covered a $45 tab for a group order; if you’re next at bat, you take your swing. Random kindnesses just feel good. — Warren Standley, Virginia
Lights in the Dark
I grew up volunteering at veterans’ hospitals and soup kitchens, but later escaped an abusive marriage with my child, penniless and homeless. People in my community quietly helped: offering yard work, finding work-trade rentals, giving me a beat-up van so I could take my child to school, standing by me in court to help secure custody. Those acts lifted me and set me on a path to owning a home and running a small business. Now I pay it forward whenever I can. Small acts have a long ripple effect. — J.F. (asked that NPR not use her full name), Hawaii
Sorrow and Sisterhood
When my beloved partner died, I lay down next to him, sobbing. Then my sister lay down beside me. I was crying for losing Bob; she was crying for me. — Rutie Havazelet, New York
Small Souvenir, Big Ripples
Years ago in Lalibela, Ethiopia, two girls sold me a metallic cross. One girl, “Mary,” gave me her email. Three years later I found her in Addis Ababa and learned she sought a scholarship. Her father had died and her mother became a nun with no income. I helped fund her education; she was admitted to a tourism school and worked hard. Later, while traveling together, Mary bought berries from a very young boy to help him earn money. She remembered selling me the cross and wanted to help someone in the situation she once faced. Her compassion showed me how small kindnesses multiply. — Cedric Yoshimoto, Hawaii