We asked you to tell us about your random acts of kindness. These were our favorites. Boston artist

We asked you to tell us about your random acts of kindness. These were our favorites.

Boston artist Bren Bataclan often gives away his paintings with a note asking people to “smile at random people more often.” He gave us two to give to PRI listeners and readers. Bataclan selected two people who commented on PRI The World’s Facebook page about the random acts of kindness they did for others or someone had done for them.

So, who were the two lucky people that will receive one of Bataclan’s paintings and what were their “random acts of kindness”? The first winner is John Stewart from Salt Lake City, Utah, who works as a professional Santa, a job that can often be thankless and taxing. His goodwill extended beyond the North Pole when this happened:

“One year, I finished up a private party at a family’s house. It was a lot of fun, and at the end, the parents gave me a Christmas card containing my fee. Once I got home, I opened the card and discovered that they had paid double my normal rate. It was very nice of them. Later, I went to dinner with a friend at a restaurant. She was asking me about being Santa, and I told her I always loved when the older kids at the party would not let on to the younger kids. They played along and made it fun for everyone. The waitress overheard and told us that she had to tell her young son the truth about Santa this year. I asked her why, and she said that because she had just finished a round of chemotherapy for cancer, and this was her first day back to work, and Christmas was not going to be like it had been in previous years. Like a shot of lightning, the universe was giving me a message. I gave the waitress the extra money that the family had given me. I told her Santa always made sure kids had a good Christmas.”

The other “random acts of kindness” winner is Ruth Deakins. She befriended a homeless man in San Diego and posted this:

“I’ve gotten to know him over the years. While talking to him recently, he told me he was married at one time and has a grown son and a daughter who died in her 30’s. I asked him if he had worked during his life. He said he had for many years and once owned a home. He’s now 70 years old. I asked if he would qualify for social security. He said he does, but he didn’t know how to apply. He knows his social security #, but doesn’t remember much else about his life; i.e., addresses where he once lived, etc. I think he may be in early dementia. He’s all alone now and has no connection with his family. I took him to the social security office and spent the day there in the lines. At being 70 years old, turns out that he could collect $1,600/month in social security benefits. That would be life-changing for him, but he has no documentation that he is a legal citizen in the U.S.; therefore, he will not receive the money. He said he came here from Mexico when he was four years old, but has no documentation that he can remember obtaining. He may be a legal citizen, but he just doesn’t know.”

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