Poole Staffer among ‘Acts of Kindness’ Recipients

Wednesday, Jan. 9, was a dreary morning, but the day was brightened by a random act of kindness for one of Poole College’s staff members.

“I walk into the MBA suite and down the hall to my office. There waiting is a beautiful bouquet of flowers,” said Amanda (Mandy) Sink, recruiting coordinator for the college’s Jenkins MBA program. “Wednesday was not close to my birthday nor my anniversary, so I didn’t think they were for me. I share an office door with our new interim director of career development, so I thought they might be hers,” she said.

Then she noticed her name on the card that came with the flowers. “Inside the note there is no message or name written, only a folded up note with a typed message: “In honor of the 26 lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, I’m part of a movement that is performing 26 acts of kindness. You are act #16. Imagine if we all performed 26 acts. Are you in?”

“I was really touched. A random stranger (to me anyway) had thought of me while considering their 26 acts of kindness. I tried to find out who sent me the flowers so I could thank them, but there was no name signed. The only clue I had was a blog web address. The owner of the blog is a lady from Charlotte named Jennifer. I didn’t recognize her, so I did some further investigating and I found this page in her blog,” Sink said.

“Instead of helping me narrow my candidates down, this page blew that number out of the water! It could be anybody on any of the six teams of 26 people! Maybe it could be one of the participants numbered 16? I’m not really sure. All I know for sure, is that the kindness of a stranger made my day, one chilly Wednesday morning,” she said. “I plan on paying-it-forward. Meaning I will perform a random act of kindness for a stranger in the near future. Thank you, whoever you are!”