What is the nicest thing you've done for anyone?

I also am helping my son, (30 years old) and for awhile his girlfriend, (they recently broke up after being together almost 5 years) letting them live in my home until they were able to get on their feet and get a place of their own...they lost their Jack In the Box employment (they both worked there) and then had no income...I bought their food and gave them tobacco money, and whatever money they asked for, I even gave her the money to get her CPR/First Aid training, because she was looking into employment that required this certification) ,other money as they needed it to keep them going..they finally applied for food stamps and this is helping out (they were actually able to have steak now!!! and did share with me, too...in fact whenever he is cooking for himself, he offers some to me also)....they moved in almost 2 years ago...to save on expenses, because she was making long distance calls to her family out of state...I installed Magic Jack on my computer system, which is wonderful because I no longer have a $65.00 phone bill every month, which helps me to finance other things...it allows unlimited phone service, local and long distance anywhere in the USA and Canada, or anyone else in the world if they also have a Magic Jack setup...it works great, unless the internet is down for some reason....

I really can't tell if this is for real Tobacco? Steak? Long distance calls?

WHATEVER they needed...within reason...and the tobacco they bought was usually the rollable kind...they would buy regular cigs, if they managed to get their hands on other money....for awhile, they went out into the local landfill, or into the desert around our small rural town, to find, collect, and recycle metal that they would find...this was good untill the local recycler dropped the price by $70 a ton...it was $170 a ton and is now at $110 a ton...just because they were consistanly bringing it in....they had lost their vehicle, due to major repairs needed, and just sold it for scrap...I also had an old vehicle that I drove for 18 years, and then just parked it because someone had broken all the windows out when I had to leave it overnight where I worked...(on an indian reservation)...I gave that vehicle to them to recycle also...my son took me out to dinner, when they got that $120....

One year my sister had a new baby and was very behind on her bills. I stole a bunch of her bills without her knowing and paid them all up to date. To this day she doesn't know who did it. Another year at Christmas I spent dollar for dollar as much on gifts for charity as I did on the gifts for my family and friends.

That's really nice!!

In the spirit of "what is..." posts:

I had flowers delivered to my best friend at her job for her 38th birthday because she had told me no one had ever sent her flowers, ever, for anything.

I did this for my best friend, she was at a job where everyone was giving her a hard time about her "imaginary boyfriend" who was very real....he just didn't think to ever show her through flowers or anything....

so I did...i sent her one dozen "anonymous" golden (the symbol for friendship) flowers to her work.....she assumed he sent them and glowed all day.....

she came home and (we were roomates) and i admitted what I did.....she was thrilled...the girls at work shut up, and her boyfriend realised that if he didn't start sending her flowers, someone else would....

so yeah.....i've done that....oddly enough I've never gotten flowers....but i'm not sweating it...it'll happen i'm sure....

My daughter and I also register to "adopt" a less fortunate family every Christmas and give them a Christmas of their own....we LOVE that....we have SO MUCH fun planning and shopping and doing that....

thanks to my ex and how garnishment is now set up, I may be in too big of a budget deficit/crunch to do that this year....that makes me sad....

but yeah....i love the anonymous type of giving...it gives me a little smile to know i brightened someone's day and they don't even know it was me.

Lauren

Probably divorcing my ex--he didn't like me much. Oh, but I waited a few extra months so he could get cheap medical insurance and half my retirement pay. That was pretty nice of me.

very nice of you on the medical insurance.

That is a tough question. When my son died on February 22, 2009 I was devastated. My son had unconditional love for everyone. I wanted to keep his legacy alive. So, on the 22nd of each month I do a random act of kindness to someone who does not know me. I was at McDonalds on 22nd, and there was a family there that (you could tell) had little money. There were several kids. They were going to split kids meals and dollar sandwiches. My heart went out to them. I took the mother up to the counter and said to order everyone their own meal. It was about $30. It was the best $30 I spent. The kids were so happy because they had their own toy, and no one went hungry. I challange each of you to pick a day each month to do a random act of kindness to someone you do not know. Believer me YOU WILL BE THE ONE BLESSED!

Best.

I do like to help people, but I have to give a cosmic shout out to the one person that has helped me so many times over the years. At different times she's been a great listener and problem solver. She loaned me money and never rushed me about paying it back... the first time was $900 to fix my POS car, then before I had paid that off my grandmother passed away. She paid for plane tickets for my whole family to go to the funeral. I wouldn't have been able to go without her. It took 2+ years to pay her back. She still brings stuff to me that "she doesn't need", but I think she just knows I need it...food and sometimes clothes.


One for me... when I was 8 mos pregnant my boss and I were leaving at the same time to go home, around 11PM. Her car had a flat tire and she didn't know how to change it. I changed it myself

Wasn't (and still am not) a complete witch to my exhusband. We weren't good spouses to each other, be we are FANTASTIC exes!!! LOL We actually joke about it all the time. Some of his cousins actually wondered if I was going to be at his wedding this past summer. We get along that well.

I've done nicer things for other people, but I prefer not to talk about it. I get laughs out of being an EXCELLENT ex-wife!! :-)

When I was 17, I worked at Wendys for minimum wage. I was dating a guy who was 23 but who still lived at home. His dad was in and out of work, and so was he. The majority of the bills fell on his mothers shoulders & his father (and him) drank away a lot of her funds. She called me one day, desperate & asked if I could loan her a couple hundred dollars for bills & asked if I would never say anything to her son or his father because he would come down hard on her. I gave her the money, no questions asked, and never asked for it to be returned. I also never told him or his dad about that day.

I've often paid for the car behind me in line at Tim Hortons. It's the least I can do. If I'm having a hard day, it makes me feel better to do something nice for someone else.

About a year ago now, I sent my ex-boyfriend (from 4 years prior) flowers to his work after I heard that he was having a tough time in life. He was stressed, still single and really down on himself. I sent a large yellow vase with a happy face on it & yellow and white roses. The card read "Smile!" & I never left my name with the flower shop.

I provided a young single mother with money to go to college as she danced for me on stage.

ya you did! thanks ♥ jk

When I was jobless, I sold all my jewellery to buy my boyfriend something special for his 21st birthday.

I would have to say:

Loving people
Listening to people
Praying for people
encouraging people

Sometimes I like to cruise through random people's Amazon Wishlists and anonymously buy them a little something off the list

This is a wonderful thread and we have some real givers on here. Thanks to everyone for sharing.

One that comes to mind for me is hiring one of my daughter's drill team moms as a receptionist. The first day at the office she asked if she could have a ride home. When I asked where her car was, she didn't have one. I drove her back and forth to work for three years. When I had one of my networking buddies get her a car, she gave it to her teenage daughter so I continued to drive her. She was having a tough time and was evicted from her home. She stayed with a friend and I surprised her with a Thanksgiving dinner and they were very grateful.

My last act of kindness was bailing my daughter's boyfriend out of jail when they came to visit. He didn't think anyone would bail him out and cried and thanked me. He said no one from home would have the money and he thought he would be in there for three months. We told him not to worry about paying us back, but he left part of the money on the desk after their last visit.

I also forgive my ex and the women he had the affair with who he ended up marrying. I did it for my daughter so she would have a dad in her life. It was very painful, but 10 years later, we still talk and he has been a wonderful dad to my daughter.

I'm not sure right off the nicest thing I've ever done but I'd love to know who these people were! . . .
My daughter and I are very close, when she left for college. (5 1/2 hours away). We were both having a hard time with the distance. I had been to every soccer game she played since 2nd grade. Lead her girl scout troop from daisy's to 10th grade. Been to every tennis match she ever played in. So her being 5 1/2 hours away was killing both of us. It was her first year in college she'd left 3 weeks early for soccer camp. Then 4 weeks into the school year she wanted to suprise her dad and me by coming home for the weekend. She was so homesick! She missed her exit and drove about 45 minutes out of the way, turned around and got back on track. It was going to put her coming down a bad mountain after dark. She was by herself. She stopped at a gas station at the top of the mtn and got a coffee. When she got back on the road the median wasn't marked and we think she ran over it and burst a rear tire. Going down the mtn the tire went down and she lost control of her car. 3 1/2 hour away from us 2 away from the college. There was a couple that saw some of what happened and stopped to make sure she was ok. They said her car flipped 5 times at least. There was not one piece of metal on the car that wasn't either scraped or dented beyond repair. The top of the drivers door was sitting on the head rest. My daughters knee went out the window and rode the pavement and was really messed up. Other than that she was scratch free. I talked to this man and lady on their cell phone for about 2 hours on our way to the hospital. They left when she got to the hospital and a friend of my bother and sister in law lived about 1/2 hour from the hospital. He went and sat with her until we arrived. She had surgery 2 times on her knee. But, the amazing thing is we have never been able to get back thru to the couple that stayed with her, called the ambulance ... I talked to them on my cell phone and my husbands cell. We tried to call on both of our phones again, our son's cell and her boy friends cell. Every time after that night when we would try to call and tell them thank you we would get a recording that the number we were calling was not an actual number. God sent 2 amazing angels to watch after our angel until we could get to her! I'd love to be able to tell them how much they mean to me watching after her!