Rather than doing the New York Cares project, I decided I would do a random act of kindness. At first I wasn’t too sure how I could start a chain reaction but then I remembered watching this video that my friend sent me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoGtaXt5f1w

Basically, these two youtubers bought and handed out food to homeless people. So inspired by the youtuber TrueStoryASA, I decided I would buy a whole bunch of bananas and hand them out to the homeless. So one morning my friend and I headed out with a bag full of bananas on the search for people in need. Let me just say that it wasn’t a smart choice to look for the homeless around Baruch because we walked maybe 15 blocks around the school and barely found any. As soon as we spotted a hobo lingering around the streets or looking through a trash can we chased them down and handed them a banana. One hobo was scared of taking the banana and even ran from us. Another one took the banana and exclaimed, “I’m a monkey.” But some were outwardly appreciative. Whether they were crazy or not, I was happy to provide them with something to fill their stomach with. The first homeless person we found was a woman sitting on crate rattling a cup of coins. To be honest I was scared to approach her but I finally went up to her and asked if she would like a banana. The look in her eyes was priceless once I handed it to her. She looked up at me and smiled and said, “Thank you so much sweetheart.” I can’t even describe the feeling that her gratitude gave me but it was incredible. A simple act of kindness can do so much and going around handing out bananas made me realize this. Some people just need a little hope and with this hope they can go a long way. At the end of the day I still had 10 bananas left in my bag and I decided I would just give the whole bag to the next homeless person I saw. I walked around Grand Central Station and sure enough, found a man looking through the trash for scraps of food. I dropped the bag of bananas in his little cart and left. The smallest of things can turn a person’s life around and I’m glad I got to help out some people, whether it was one banana or 10.