There are a lot of unspoken people in the world who enjoy giving to others whether it be spiritually, physically, mentally or financially and I personally would like to thank them for their random acts of kindness as I know I will probably never meet them as so many would prefer to stay anonymous.
I was the guy who bought 500 coffees at Tim Hortons in Red Deer last year.
Even though there were so many people who enjoyed what I did, there were quite a few who did not. It is sad that I even feel I have to write this type of letter to explain myself to all the negative people that jumped on a bandwagon last year, criticizing my intentions.
It was not originally my idea to buy the next 500 customers a coffee. I have done the pay-it-forward thing where you just pick up the tab for the guy behind you but this was extreme.
I heard on the news that it happened in Edmonton so I thought, ‘Why not do the same for people in my community and put a smile on a neighbour’s face who I have never met?’
My wife and I were shocked and sickened to hear/read about the amount of people who went out of their way to criticize me for either buying people coffee who they think can already afford the luxury, thought that it was a marketing scam for Tim Hortons, thought I should have spent my money on the homeless, taken my money to the food bank, given it to the woman’s shelter, given it to Red Cross, and the list goes on.
Hopefully I can put this unnecessary negativity to a rest as my wife and I have periodically engaged in these types of donations every year for the past 10 years.
The irony of these comments is that we actually do give to the homeless, give to the woman’s shelter, give to Red Cross, give to Salvation Army, give to the food bank, give to Third World countries, etc., and it is a lot more than what we spent on coffees.
The whole point of doing this anonymously is that we do not look for any recognition.
Do we really have to explain ourselves in these types of letters or do we have to write out a list of all our charitable donations and publicly display them every time we do something nice for someone to avoid such negativity?
Seeing as I addressed the negative people here, I would also like to say thank you to my friends and the strangers who tried to help keep the act positive in nature for what it was intended to be in the first place.
Just like one of my supporters said, complaining and shredding our good intentions could make charitable people not even want to do nice things for others in the future … good thing that it hasn’t swayed my wife and I as we are about to do another giveaway today, at a certain Dairy Queen for kids, and it is for the kids … that’s all nothing more! Please do not read anything else into it!
Final note: my wife and I are the type of people who at times try to think how we can help others in need or even think of doing a kind gesture to simply put a smile on a stranger’s face. For all you who want to continue to attack our kind gestures (or anyone else’s, for that matter) from the past, today or in the future, do not act like you know us or tell us how to spend our hard-earned money or where we should apply it … instead of being so cynical, why don’t you look at yourself and ask: ‘What have I done lately?’
Name withheld
Red Deer