Winnipeg's residents know what it means to pay it forward.
According to Yahoo News, the city's denizens are increasingly going out of their way to help their neighbors -- and a wave of random acts of kindness is sweeping through its coffee shops.
Photographer Ryan Paul told Yahoo News that he’s been buying coffee for strangers for months. Every Monday, Paul pays someone's tab and instructs the barista to say “Happy Monday” to the recipient.
“Personally, I’m not a morning person at all,” said Paul. “I figured it would be a nice surprise.”
When a stranger offered to pay for Maya Kotecha’s tea at a Starbucks drive-through, she was totally touched by the gesture.
“It’s $2, but it made me feel great,” Kotecha told Yahoo News.
These aren't the only examples of Winnipeg's brotherly behavior.
Last month, we reported the story of a kindhearted bus driver who took off his own shoes to give to a homeless man on the street one cold morning.
Recipients of other random acts of kindness have taken to writing in to the Winnipeg Free Press to share their experiences.
I would like to thank all the kind people who stopped to help me recently when my car was rear-ended," Paul Chute wrote. "I am especially grateful to an off-duty paramedic who came to my rescue and made sure I was okay and stayed with me until the ambulance arrived."
"It brings to mind the movie ‘Pay it Forward’ in which strangers do kind deeds for others in need," Chute adds. "If we all did that, wouldn’t it be great? "
Fern Lee wrote about her experience shopping at a local store, "When I got home, I realized I did not have my leather gloves. Although they are somewhat old, they would be expensive to replace. I returned to Giant Tiger [the store] where the staff told me a gentleman said I’d left them in the shopping cart. He did not leave his name. So to that kind gentleman, thank you. I will pay it forward."
The tradition has become so common in the past two years that the city's residents even organized a Winnipeg Pay It Forward Day organized on Facebook.
"I dream of a world where everywhere is Pay it Forward day for everyone every day," Summer Hansell wrote on the Facebook page.
Winnipeg might just be closer to that ideal.
Related
Before You Go
