Ferndale Woman Commits Random Acts of Kindness to Honor Late Mother

Sometimes, it’s both the gift and the thought behind it that matter.

In this case, the gifts have been plentiful – a bag of quarters suspended from a parking meter near the Ferndale Public Library, a $5 Starbucks gift card distributed at random in a grocery store parking lot, morsels of sweet goodness from a bag of Hershey’s Kisses – and unexpected.

Thank Holly Schultz, a 35-year-old massage therapist from Ferndale. She’s committing random acts of kindness all week to honor her late mother, Elizabeth “Betsy” Schultz, who died five years ago Friday of a brain tumor, the Detroit Free Press reports.

In the past, Schultz has observed the anniversary of her mother’s death by having dinner out with friends or posting a video memorial tribute on her Facebook page, both somber events that left people feeling sad.

This year, she turned to social media again, this time challenging her friends to do one random act of kindness in honor of her mother.

“I just thought if I could get people to do nice things in her honor, it would be a nice tribute to my mom,” Schultz told the newspaper.

Each day has a theme reflecting something her mother loved. The bag of quarters at the library parking meter, left with a note reading “Enjoy your visit to the library today on me” and signed “Betsy,” reflected her mother’s love of reading.

It brightened the day of library patrons, said Kelly Bennett, the head of circulation.

“We get a lot of complaints  about the parking meters throughout the day,” she said. “It was nice to see the pay station turned into something people could be happy about.”

By Wednesday, the good-cheer warriors had done more than 30 nice things for complete strangers.

“I think she’d get a kick out of it,” Schultz said