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KINDNESS IS NEVER going to be overrated – a kind deed goes a very long way.
So when we heard that there is going to be a Random Acts of Kindness festival in Clonakilty this weekend, we decided to ask our readers if they had been kind to someone lately.
Here’s what they told us they did:
Rescued a hedgehog
Bren: I rescued a hedgehog which had fallen into a storm drain. The poor thing was exhausted and had nearly drowned.
Helped an elderly lady with Alzheimers
Wesley: There was this old dear with alzheimer’s sitting beside me in a pub. I could see she had 8 whiskeys in like 10 minutes. I wasn’t impressed with the barman for serving her, knowing she had alzheimer’s. The old lady turned to me and said I’ve only had 2 but I don’t feel well. So I told her I’d walk her home. She said she lived across the street. So I told my mate id be back in a few minutes and helped the old lady up and brought her across the street.
Walked a blind man across the road
Lynn: I stopped the car in traffic and got out to help a blind man cross the road as he was near a corner where there was no traffic lights. Also dropped an elderly neighbor to mass on sat evening, He was giving himself 45 mins for the walk, which would be a 5 min walk for me, and in this heat too! I couldn’t pass him.
Revived a bumble bee
Lillian: A bumble bee who appeared to be exhausted…got my saucer made up a sugar water solution in ratio of 2 Tbsp sugar 2 cold water mixed well , crumpled but kitchen roll on top of it so that when I put bee on saucer it didn’t drown. I had only read this tip few days before from the bee keepers Assoc. Placed bumble on saucer left him & after while it had energy enough to fly away.
Paid the toll for someone else
Alan: Paid for the next car coming behind me at the Toll.
Collected money for the ISPCA
Caroline: Collected money for ispca for two hours in Gordy last weekend. As I have had many animals from the ispca, I thought it was nice to give something back
Helped out the neighbours
Philip: Power washed neighbour’s front and back garden. Got rid of nettles on estate so kids wouldn’t hurt themselves. Also cleared her gutters as I was doing mine. I’m a big believer in karma.
Chick-sat
Róisín: I am chick-sitting and house-sitting for my co-worker this week while see visits her family across the pond
Returned a lost purse
Chloe: [Saw] a woman drop her purse and chased her through the shopping centre to give it back.
Share your stories of random acts of kindness in the comments below…
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Coming home from the bog yesterday I was driving behind my uncle’s tractor and trailer of turf when he stopped suddenly and got out of the tractor. I got out so see what was wrong and he had gone to the front of it and was kneeling down on the ground. He had in his hand a small bird that had gotten stuck in the melted road tar. My uncle was removing the bits of tar from his claws and then told me to get it some water from his bottle. We put water in the lid of the bottle and give it to the little bird. Great moment. Bird flew away happy.
But to be honest my uncle would do this sort of thing all the time. He’s a big nature lover.
I got my brother a job! Felt good as he was looking for work for a while :)
Hi, needed one too!
I green thumbed once.
I’m looking for someone who lost an iPhone yesterday in the Glencar viewing area on the Sligo to Manorhamilton Road. Long shot, but if anybody knows this person, please comment!
That was me I think. Where is Glencar?
:) There’s some pretty distinctive traits the owner can describe.
I’m not 100% sure but you may be able to track down the owner thru their apple account.
Car phone warehouse can help.
Fair play to you. I would be lost without mine. It’s not only a phone, it’s a work tool/ office
I’ll check this out! Thanks!
I’ve a way to find the owner Deirdre. Remove the SIM card and call the provider (O2, three, meteor etc) and give them the numbers which are on the sim. They can contact the owner on your behalf,as they are unlikely to give you their details. They might not be able to call the owner but they can contact them through post if all else fails. This has helped me return 2 phones to rightful owners in the past. Fair play to you for making the effort.
Genius! I will try that tonight!
I contacted o2 UK and gave them the SIM number but they were useless. Confirmed it’s one of their numbers but just said to hand it in to the police. Aye right, so it can sit in a box :(
That’s ridiculous behaviour from them, unless it’s a pay as you go phone in which case they wouldn’t have the details of the owner. In saying that,they would still know the phone number of the person who lost it. They could have put a note on the account so when that person goes to get a new SIM card with that same number they will be made aware of your find. I wouldn’t give up hope yet,nor would I be bothered with the police trying to track them down.
Hopefully we have the owner. Someone contacted the guards who contacted us and they are calling to collect later. Fingers crossed!
If u hold down the home button & say call Mam or call dad, if they have their mam or dads number in the phone it will call while locked :) or if they have I E (in case of emergency) it can call that one too :)
Good idea for next time, but thankfully the phone had now been reunited with it’s owner. Hooray for happy endings!
Well that’s the outcome you both wanted so well done to everyone who helped.
Helped a pregnant woman with a baby in a pram carry her shopping home. She lived about half mile in the opposite direction.
Told a woman I stopped to let cross the road, that her dress was caught up in her back-pack………..poor thing went beetroot!!
Saw someone I know been beaten up by his brother. Lying on the ground and blood trickling down his face. I ran and rescued him. Let him stay for 5 nights. He was fairly traumatized by the whole thing and in pain. There is a need for more temporary accommodation for these type of situations/genuine cases. It is at times like that where I realised how little help is out there.
Can I stay in yours? :)
I Freed a frantic screaming child who was trapped in a shopping trolley and his poor dad was helpless just trying to keep him still , his legs got trapped and twisted in the bars of seat :) all was well and hopefully forgotten now :)
I meet a blind lady who had lost her way and I walked her to the dental clinic… She was very grateful and was a very funny character on the way :-)
I was actually busking at the market in Clonakilty for the Festival yesterday, the buzz is just fantastic, strongly recommend anybody who’s in the area to head down and check it out! Not an act that I did, but after I finished playing two of the stallholders nearest to me came over to thank me for the music and gave me a box of noodles and a plum tart. All the tastier because of the pleasantness of the gesture :)
My own contribution was up in Galway busking with a mate for the start of the Arts Festival during the week. It was late on one of the evenings and we noticed a younger performer wandering around looking for a pitch, so after a while we invited her to come and play with us. She had a beautiful voice but she was really shy about it. Once we’d finished up we all went for coffee. My friend and I waited until she went to the bathroom, then slipped a note into her guitar case that read, ‘You have a beautiful voice – don’t forget, and share it with the world!’.
Maybe it’s the weather that brings out the kindness in everyone! :D
I was the recipient of a random act of kindness on Thursday. I got a flat tyre while at Powerscourt Waterfall. I thought I’d make it to Enniskerry to get it repaired in the garage there. I was driving down the road and came across two guys who were diverting the traffic for roadworks. They took one look at the tyre and informed me I had no chance of making it to Enniskerry without wrecking the tyre and the wheel. They then proceeded to call their colleagues working further up the road to see if anyone had one of those air canisters which nobody had. They said they would have changed it but they had to direct the traffic. One of the guys then went off and knocked in at a farm that was just on the corner and the man there had an air pump but instead of just putting enough air in to allow me to get to Enniskerry he fully repaired the puncture for me and then checked the air pressure in my other tyres. Talk about decent people! So to the men working on the roads near Powerscourt and the man from Waterfall Farm thanks a million! You really saved me from wrecking my car and having to wait in the heat for a rescue truck. Thank you so much!
And yes, I do feel like a bit of an eejit that I don’t know how to change a tyre…
An old woman was in front of me at the checkouts two days before Christmas with a box of tea bags, loaf of bread, pint of milk, and butter. She didn’t have enough money for all of it and was told she’d have to put something back. I gave her the euro or two she needed. She was so grateful. Still upsets me just thinking of that poor woman. I’d rather get fired for my till being down than ask someone like that to put back a loaf of bread.
There was a girl short for the bus the other day, as her bus pass seemed to have run out.
I hesitated to get up as I offered before and was abused for it because the woman was offended; but the busman let her go the few stops.
My son and I just released a house Martin that flew into a window and was trapped behind a wall. Felt good to see him fly off as our cat was lurking nearby. Lol.
I came across a girl having a bit of a meltdown in the street. She was a new mother and she was on her own so things were starting to get the better of her. She was screaming and crying in frustration because she felt like she was losing it.. So I sat with her, helped to calm her down, held the baby for a bit to try and keep her calm.. I think we were there for an hour or so, just letting her get all that anger out of her system.. Never saw her again, really hope she’s doing ok.
Cycling around ireland for charity next month. If anyone wants to support me heres the link : )
For at least an hour a week I like to chew bread for gummy chickens.
this inspired me to give out paper flowers and stripey straws to little kids in my shop today. they were so happy to pick out their favourite colours.
please do an article like this regularly!
What’s chick-sitting? It’s hardly looking after chickens, is it?
I was wondering that too
I was walking toward drumcondra train station around 2 years coming from college and there was this man at a ATM machine after he used the ATM I noticed he had not taken his cash with him so I ran after him and gave it too him, the next day I was in the centra beside drumcondra train station he came in and bought his lunch and on the way out he hands me €50 and says thanks for yesterday but I told him no its fine and gave him back the money.
I love this! I paid for an American couple’s tour bus tickets:) pay it forward peeps…..#kind
I carried an elderly woman’s shopping to her house one day. She had left the shop and saw me walking in the direction and asked if I wouldn’t mind carrying her bags to her house five minutes down the road. She tried to pay me, but I couldn’t take any money off of her.
A few years before that I chased after a woman to return the phone that had fallen from her bag.
Not something I did but my mum and sister were driving along the n11 and there was an old man stopped in his car in the middle of the road. All the other cars were just beeping at him but my mum and sister got out and went to see if he was okay, he said he had gotten confused so they drove him home in their car then went back, picked up his car and brought it to his house. The poor man was really shaken up by what had happened but was very grateful. What’s unfortunate is the amount of people who just sat in their cars beeping at him instead of helping!
I gave a homeless man 15 euros last year,returned an iphone i found on sofa in harvey normans,
Drove a woman around for 20 minutes till she found her car. Not only was it not in the car park where I found her wandering around but it wasn’t in the second car park either. Eventually found it parked on street!
I was cycling in the country and came across a ladies purse that she had left on the top of her car and it fell out all over the road. I managed to track her down and return it to her
have your say