This week on Viral Kindness, local business owner Mary Billings was nominated because of a recent celebration of motherhood.
"I asked on Instagram if anyone had any nominations for moms that could use some extra love on Mother’s Day…because I have single-mom friends, and I always worry about them. They have young kids – who’s helping them celebrate? As moms, we’re really busy. We’re trying to think of our mothers-in-law and our own mothers.
"I was raised by a single mom. I always really appreciated her and tried to do things special, because she’s amazing. So, I just threw out there, ‘Hey, I’d like to do a couple nice things for some moms in town. Send me your nominations, and we’ll pick a couple.’ I thought, if anything, it’ll remind people to think of their friends that might need a little love. And we got some great nominations, about a dozen. Someone that their husband had passed away recently. There was one where a mom had twins early, and she already had a toddler, so a sister nominated her. Someone struggling with infertility. Someone that had lost their mom.
"And I, of course, was moved by all of them, so we decided to do little, fun packages for each of the moms. Some of them were like spa packages, or cute home stuff – like a candle and a cute dish towel. Just little things to let them know that someone’s thinking about them, to make their day extra special. Since we decided to do more than originally planned, luckily the people who nominated them were able to come pick up the gifts and do porch drop-offs. And they were really excited when I asked if they wanted to help make that mom’s day."
