Blankets suddenly started appearing on park benches in Boston last February. Attached to the blankets were notes, which read the following:
These blankets are not lost! If you are cold, without shelter, and looking for comfort then they are for you! Please take one. Enjoy, and know that you are important.
Each also had a $5 dollar gift card packed in that could be spent on food.
The blankets were a great gift for those without homes that had to endure the cold winter.
But the mystery of who put the blankets there still remained. Until now. As media attention around the blankets rose, someone told the press about Cathy O’Grady.
“It was me,” she admitted. “Somebody squealed on me… but I’m not bummed about it. If I can motivate other people to help out, that’s the purpose of all this.”
O’Grady, an accountant from nearby Watertown, has been heading into Boston for the last two years, doing anonymous good deeds.
She’s given bags of goodies to the homeless, nurses, and veterans. Sometimes she’ll just buy a stranger a cup of coffee.
With the help of Colleen Wogernose, a friend she met through Facebook, O’Grady is planning a new project. They’re planning to carry out a random act of kindness every day, for 318 days. Wogernose’s late husband fought with cancer.
Among the acts of kindness they have planned are purchasing meals for strangers and handing out care packages to patients battling cancer.
Additionally they’ll be doing smaller things, like leaving quarters on machines in grocery stores for children to find and giving mints to diners after they pay their check.
Others have already been inspired by O’Grady’s actions. When she left a set of scarves out for the homeless, a stranger attached a set of dollar bills to them to add to the bounty.
According to O’Grady, that’s exactly what she was hoping for – to provide encouragement for others to help too. Why not help make Cathy’s vision come true. Share this post and see what you can do to help someone today.