Week 1 Kindness Stories: Small Acts, Big Changes

  (Photograph includes Steph's grandpa and wife.)

 

One of my favourite people is Steph and I’ve been lucky enough to call her my friend for almost 30 years. She is the epitome of kindness so it’s no surprise that her acts of kindness story was the first one I received.

In the 1960’s, Steph’s grandpa was a school janitor in Vancouver. While cleaning the hallways during lunch he started to notice that some children would throw out sandwiches and fruit they didn’t want and then at the end of the day another child would come along and dig them out of the garbage. He soon found out that this child's family didn't have enough money to provide him with lunches.

This thoughtful man was quite poor himself, with a low paying job and 4 kids to feed. He knew what it meant to struggle and wanted to help where he could. He decided that when he saw a child about to throw out food, he’d tell them to put it on a windowsill instead. This meant the hungry child could come pick what they wanted without having to hunt through the garbage.

Over time, like many small acts of kindness, this grew into something much larger. These sandwiches and fruit left on a windowsill inspired the school to adopt its first lunch program. When we can use our own struggles to create empathy and change, that’s a beautiful thing.