100 Ways to Be Kind in Melrose (and Beyond)

  1. Hold the door 
  2. Buy someone coffee
  3. Cook a meal for a family in your neighborhood
  4. Leave quarters in the laundromat
  5. Donate old towels to A Better Companion for doggy baths
  6. Visit your elderly neighbors 
  7. Tell your kids they are superheroes with the power to do good
  8. Be kind to the customer service rep on the phone
  9. Donate socks to Scott Forbes’ porch as part of his Homeless Veterans Sock Drive 
  10. Give someone the rest of your pack of gum 
  11. Say yes when you really want to say no
  12. Congratulate someone who has worked hard and succeeded
  13. Do a chore for someone without their knowledge
  14. Call that friend you disagreed with long ago, make up
  15. Thank a police officer and give him a smile
  16. Send a card to a soldier
  17. Be good to you
  18. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth
  19. Volunteer to serve a meal at Bread of Life in Malden
  20. Buy tissue and hand sanitizer for a teacher
  21. Give a lottery ticket to a stranger
  22. Leave heads up pennies on the sidewalk
  23. Smile, it’s contagious
  24. Buy groceries for the person behind you in line
  25. Compliment your waitperson
  26. Leave a funny note on a random car
  27. Visit Melrose Library and check out their kindness display 
  28. Leave flowers on someone’s doorstep
  29. Shop local
  30. Drag your neighbors’ trash/recycling bins back to their house
  31. Give a ride to someone who needs one
  32. Participate in a fundraiser
  33. Donate to the Melrose Symphony
  34. Visit a store you have not been to before and purchase something, regardless of how small
  35. Run an errand for someone
  36. Visit the Milano Senior Center (with your kids!)
  37. Write a thank you to someone who has helped you or touched you in some way
  38. Donate toys at local hospitals 
  39. Thank a teacher or administrator or secretary
  40. Donate your talent
  41. Write a letter to the editor about something great in our city 
  42. Put your phone away
  43. Introduce yourself to someone new
  44. Compliment a stranger
  45. Leave the biggest tip you can afford
  46. Send a floral arrangement anonymously to Melrose Wakefield Hospital 
  47. Let someone in the check out line go ahead of you
  48. Tell whomever is helping you to take his or her time, you’re in no hurry
  49. Give someone a book you think they’d like
  50. Wipe the counter at Starbucks
  51. Pick up litter and dispose of it 
  52. Put a sticky note with positive words on a bathroom mirror
  53. Drop off some treats for our public safety officials working long hours/overnights/holidays
  54. Give blood
  55. Give your T seat up to elderly, impaired, and pregnant people
  56. Send dessert to another table
  57. Tell your siblings how much you appreciate them
  58. Hug your mother or someone else’s mother
  59. Carpool
  60. Walk
  61. Say yes when the cashier asks you if you’d like to donate to a cause
  62. Commit to using reusable bags
  63. Clean someone’s windshield
  64. Do the dishes, even if it isn’t your turn
  65. Tell someone how great he or she looks
  66. Don’t say one negative thing all day long
  67. Have a clean up party at The Melrose Common
  68. Give things away that you no longer need
  69. Play basketball with your kids, or your neighbor’s kids
  70. Write someone a real letter on paper and mail it
  71. Call your father or a father figure and tell him your favorite memory of him
  72. Let them have the parking space
  73. Compost and be a friend to the earth
  74. Donate to A Servant Heart’s Food Pantry or Pantry of Hope
  75. Write your partner a list of things you love about him or her
  76. Give your favorite book to a friend
  77. Drive slowly around town and let pedestrians cross even if they aren’t in the crosswalk
  78. Be a Santa to a Senior by collecting an ornament at Shaw’s
  79. Donate your maternity or baby clothes to Mothers Helping Mothers
  80. Bring dog (and cat) food to the Health Dept in City Hall to help pet owners who are struggling financially
  81. Donate your old eyeglasses to the Lions Club for distribution to those in need in developing countries
  82. Contact the Melrose Emergency Fund to see how you can help Melrose families this holiday season 
  83. Contact Macaulay’s House of Vacuum Cleaners to offer to help with the community Thanksgiving dinner
  84. Relay an overheard compliment
  85. Donate to Operation Gratitude 
  86. Text an old friend just to say hello
  87. Encourage someone in an unexpected way
  88. Commit to making kindness a habit
  89. Sing
  90. Don’t interrupt when someone is speaking
  91. Be kind on social media 
  92. Be the person who only has nice things to say
  93. Fold the wash, put it away
  94. Smile at the homeless and give them that extra dollar in your pocket or buy them a meal
  95. Call a parent and tell him or her how great their kid is
  96. Give your dog, or someone else’s dog, a belly scratch
  97. Give a hug, receive a hug
  98. Thank your teacher, or your child’s teacher, or your retired teacher  
  99. Send anonymous flowers to someone who won’t expect it
  100. Return the shopping cart

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