55 Retail Workers Shown Kindness During Thanksgiving Sales

For families across the country, Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate traditions. For The Redemption Movement, our Thanksgiving tradition takes us to Oneonta’s Southside Mall for a special act of kindness: blessing retail workers with care packages that includes a $2 bill and a bag of candy. 

For 2017’s Thanksgiving AoK, the Carpenter family and Kindness Team member Pat Raczkowski visited JCPenney, Southside Cinema, and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Within an hour, 55 care packages were delivered, bringing cheer and thankfulness to many workers unable to spend the holiday with their families.

Over the past five Thanksgivings, this makes a total of 330 care packages that our little church has given away. Each care package includes a thank-you card and a $2 bill, meaning that we’ve passed out $660 in cash to retail workers since 2013 (along with a whole lotta chocolate)!

Read more about previous Thanksgivings: 2013, 2014, 2015, & 2016.

This year, we assembled the care packages right after the family Thanksgiving meal, an enjoyable task thanks to the help of a friend. We then piled in the car with the kiddos and headed to the mall. But, unlike most at the store, we weren’t on a mission to shop.

Highlights from the outing include:

• The first young lady we encountered literally cried after I gave her the care package. She was overwhelmed with emotion and told us how happy the simple AoK made her.
• One woman from JCPenney remembered us from previous years and commented on how much our kids have grown (our youngest son was in a baby in a stroller during last year’s Thanksgiving outing).
• We gave a care package to a mother who was sad because she didn’t get to spend Thanksgiving with her kids. I suggested that she give the candy to her kids. She replied with a laugh and said, “Yeah, we’ll see how the night goes.” 
• One young man was so excited about receiving a care package that he had a difficult time gathering his words to say thank you. I was able to leave him with five cards to pass out to busy cashiers nearby and he vowed to “carry on the message.” 
• Many workers told us how much they were in need of an act of kindness like this, and many more asked about our church.
• We even encountered workers that we already knew and are friends with through the ministries of our church. It was so cool to be there to support our friends in such a special way. 

Giving away all 55 care packages went by really fast. The stores we visited were super busy and things were, unfortunately, too hectic to allow for deep conversations with the people we ministered to. But, each worker now has our contact information and the seeds of relationships have been sown. At the end of the day, spending this much money is way more fun/meaningful than dropping $100+ on discounted merchandise, and I look forward to doing it all again next year!

Bonus Act of Kindness: Helping Out My Cashier With a Free Ride Home 

While shopping the day before for supplies pertaining to this Thanksgiving outreach, I overheard a cashier complain about the OPT buses not operating their late bus like usual. She didn’t find this out until it was too late, meaning that she would have to walk home in the cold weather. During checkout, I introduced myself and gave her my #OneontaRides Kindness Card so she could call me after her shift was over for a ride home. Thankfully, the woman took up my offer and called me an hour later for a ride. It was an enjoyable ride and we got to talk about church most of the way.

Typically, we only offer free rides home like this on the weekends, but every once in awhile I’ll encounter a need like this that’s too compelling to ignore. It’s all about being open to the needs around you when you’re going through your routine. Often times, we may only view cashiers, clerks, customer service specialist, merchandise stockers, etc., as there to serve our needs (and not really “see” them at all). But, whenever we take a moment to slow down and view the world through God’s eyes, it’s my belief that purchasing stuff will take a back seat to the needs of others--and, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?