This post is inspired by Shot@Life, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation dedicated to using vaccines as a cost-effective way to save children’s lives in developing countries. (Image courtesy United Nations Foundation.)
Hi team, I need help. Here’s why:
For every comment on this post, Shot@Life gets $20 to vaccinate a kid.
Twenty. Dollars.
Twenty dollars is what it costs to give one child four vaccines that help protect them against measles, pneumonia, diarrhea, and polio. During Shot@Life’s Blogust: Blog Relay for Good, 31 bloggers have been helping to secure $200,000 in sponsor donations. We need 10,000 comments, and we’re about 1,000 away from that goal right now.
Over the years, your comments have shaped my life. Whether you were celebrating Hank’s birth with me, or cheering my Life List, or comforting me when things took a difficult turn. I know you guys care about helping other people because of how much help you’ve already heaped on me.
So let’s do this.
Can you comment twice? Yes. Yes you can. And if you have a means of spreading the word, please Tweet, Pin, link on Facebook, or post a quick link on your own site.
Let us know the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you in comments. And thanks to you for being so nice to other people. I like you.
Yesterday Fadra Nally of All Things Fadra wrote about the comments you never see. Tomorrow, I’m passing the baton to my friend Stacey Ferguson of Justice Fergie — so you can help us reach our final goal by commenting on her site as well. We have until August 31. Thanks again.
Mighty Girl 
Listened to me when I needed to vent. Have faith in me when I’ve doubted myself. Provide hope when things seem bleak. I’m a lucky girl.
LikeLike
Too many things to count. I think anyone who is simply kind to others each day is making a huge difference.
LikeLike
When I was in 6th grade, I was going to a very conservative, strict religious grade school, and I was miserable. I decided I wanted to change schools, held a family meeting, and broke the news to my parents, giving them all the reasons why I wanted to leave. And instead of just writing me off or getting upset, they took my reasons into consideration, they researched my concerns and ultimately, they decided I could change schools. I started public school the next year and it changed my life for the better, academically and socially.
Many, many other nice things have happened to me over the years but that one always seemed like the nicest due to the trust and love that was behind it.
LikeLike
Yesterday’s nice thing: I had a horrible migraine all day. They get to be so debilitating and I just want to cry from the searing pain. I got home from work to a dinner my boyfriend made, which he put aside right away to help me climb into bed. He laid next to me and just rubbed my head and back until I was ready to get up. I just feel so lucky to have picked a good one.
LikeLike
A generous alumnus from my law school endowed a scholarship fund which paid my whole tuition.
LikeLike
Helped me out when my husband was out of town, upgraded our family on an overseas flight, loved me even when I was being difficult.
LikeLike
My parents paying for my college and car so that I could start my adult life off debt free. I totally took this for granted at the time, but seeing my friends struggle to pay off their debt has made me really appreciate my clean start.
LikeLike
My grandparents left their home in Cuba to make sure that their children and future grandchildren didn’t have to grow up in a place where they would be stifled and indentured to a revolution that didn’t care about people.
LikeLike
Both of my girls put their little toddler hands on my cheeks when they give me a kiss. That’s almost always the nicest part of my day, and they have no idea.
LikeLike
My last two weeks of pregnancy I was put on bed rest with frequent hospital visits. My parents flew out to help out. They took me to the hospital, bought an entire newborn wardrobe and indulged my tuna melt cravings regularly.
LikeLike
when my college roommate’s parents gave me credit card points so i could fly home for my brother’s wedding. the wedding where i met my now-husband of 9 years.
LikeLike
We are a civil rights law firm and the nicest thing that anyone ever does for us is when we help a client through a difficult situation and that client comes back months or years later to tell us thank you and to show us how we changed the trajectory of their lives. The kindest thing anyone can do is say a simple thank you.
LikeLike
Thanks for all the efforts
Best wishes to all 🙂
LikeLike
The nicest thing someone has done for me was tell me they love me when I didn’t love myself very much.
LikeLike
My friends/neighbors have been taking care of our puppy when we are unable to. It’s amazing to have three couples from which to choose for this task!
Also, my parents supported me through college, but took out loans in my name, then promptly paid them when the loans were due. So my credit score went through the roof. My parents are pretty much amazing.
LikeLike
It’s great to know I/we can do something like this in the midst of a busy day!
LikeLike
The nicest thing anyone has done for me is impossible to sum up. I guess I would just say my parents have been my parents, and I feel so lucky.
LikeLike
Last December my boss surprised me by giving me a random day off to do some Christmas shopping. And it was absolutely what I needed right then.
LikeLike
My 10 year old daughter stepped up this weekend and helped me handle a weekend with my mother, with whom I have a very stressful relationship.
LikeLike
This is awesome!
LikeLike
My sister went out of her way to help us out with our older child after the birth of our second baby.
LikeLike
My silly little 3 year old woke up 2 hours early and was so happy to see his daddy before daddy left for work. He also wanted to put on his shoes just to be like daddy. And now he’s laying on the couch watching Adventure Time eating breakfast.
LikeLike
Absolutely just got lost in Intels Sponsors of Tomorrow YouTube videos – this one made me laugh most: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqlUZfOOS7E 🙂
LikeLike
My mom and I always go Christmas shopping together during one weekend in November. This year I fell in love with a ridiculously overpriced but absolutely gorgeous ornament for my tree. My sensible self left it in the store, but when I opened my ornament box to decorate my tree in December, there was a foreign object in the box…which turned out to be the very ornament I had passed up. My mom had bought it for me and took the extra step to hide it with my other ornaments so I would have a surprise when I decorated my tree.
LikeLike
My husband and I normally don’t do anything fancy for Valentine’s day, but this past year he saw a necklace with an elephant on it from JCrew. I would never have spent the money on myself, but I cried when I opened it up. So sweet.
LikeLike
The envelopes of cash that were collected by friends during two very long years of unemployment.
LikeLike
When I flew out to see my mom who was extremely ill in South Africa, I grabbed a quick lunch in Atlanta airport. I sat next to two middle-aged sisters who were going on vacation together. We chatted and had a few laughs. When I got up to leave, my waiter told me they’d paid my bill 🙂
LikeLike
Beautiful girls in the photo above, BTW 😉
LikeLike
love my kids. so many wonderful people in my life just adore them– and it always makes me so happy.
LikeLike
My aunt and uncle comped a hotel suite for me, my husband and mother-in-law for a week and a half when my husband had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. That single thing meant so, so much to us.
LikeLike
My parents never had a lot of money, but they always seemed to find a way to encourage my sister and I to travel and have adventures. They sacrificed so we could see the world.
LikeLike
i don’t now about “the very nicest”… but i am always so moved when people go out of their way to give simple compliments. it’s always nice to remember how good a heartfelt “you did a really great job” can feel.
LikeLike
also, my husband’s family has taken me in like their own– my family was very small and not much beyond the immediate, while my husband’s family is huge and very close. well, over the years they have certainly become my own family and it is wonderful– esp now that i can watch my daughter play with her cousins!
LikeLike
The nicest thing my future husband has ever done was to love me, even when I doubted it, enough to convince me that “unconditional” really is just that.
LikeLike
I can’t narrow the list down to THE nicest thing anyone’s done for me; there are so many candidates. I must lead a charmed life.
LikeLike
a friend and his fiancée came over and made me a big, double-batch pot of soup every week after i had my baby. it was a long time before my postpartum depression was diagnosed, but these friends sensed it and mothered me in a way i could never have asked for.
LikeLike
i am lucky, so there is a long list of wonderful things people have done for me, but here is one: when, after years of fertility treatments and finally thinking we had succeeded i had a miscarriage at 9 weeks, i called my sister and asked her to tell people for me so that i wouldn’t have to go through saying it over and over again. not only did she agree without hesitation, she somehow managed to convey to all of my family and friends enough that they, too, were aware of how to be supportive without asking me to talk about it. i can’t even think about that time without welling up, but because of the kindness of my sister and the rest of my family and friends i am able to focus on the love rather than just the pain.
LikeLike
Once I tweeted that I wanted a cupcake. The next day I was at my friends house and she goes “i saw your tweet yesterday, and i got you a cupcake!”
LikeLike
When I was stressed out about getting into the business school (pre req classes, etc) my boyfriend looked up all the information for me and helped me figure it out step by step
LikeLike
Not so long a ago I was going through a really tough time with my dog being extremely ill but I wanted (needed really) to fly to another state for a wedding and to see some people I dearly love. I didn’t really have the money to fly and spent weeks stressing over the 10+ hour drive I was planning on doing instead for a short weekend. My sister called and told me she was buying me a plane ticket and I should just tell her what times. It lifted such a huge weight off my shoulders and meant so very much to me.
LikeLike
Whoa. I’ve been so tied up with schenanigans at work that it took me a while to be able to think about a nice thing. That’s bad; time to stop that! Anyway. One of the nicest things recently has been the support of my friends. My fiancee was away for six months on a work study and I had a really hard time of it, but had several friends who made sure I got out of the apartment and did fun things with them, even if that meant taking me on as a third wheel. That helped tremendously.
LikeLike
The nicest thing is when someone makes you feel loved, just for who you are in that moment.
LikeLike
Two other super nice things, since you said we could comment more than once. One, my parents have loved me and supported me even though they don’t always understand me, and for that I am incredibly grateful. Two, my 5 year old son handed me a note the other day. It said “I love you. Never give up.” I’m keeping it forever.
LikeLike
In 2004 I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and was terrified. The guy I’d been dating for about a month came over that night with books on the subject, wbsite references, and sugar-free chocolate. He asked friends and coworkers and found an endocrinologist for me.
I married that guy in 2006. Mike’s still the nicest thing that ever happened to me.
LikeLike
The year I turned 30 was a bit of a nadir for me, so I didn’t want to celebrate at all. I’m sad, now, that everyone listened to me and didn’t do anything, let me wallow in my self-pity, but my brilliant and amazing friend Amanda surprised me by flying to Chicago from San Diego, for one day, to spend the day with me. Still makes me teary when I think about it.
There is a list as long as the Milky Way of large and small kindnesses that folks have done me, because I am surrounded by wonderful people, but I will never forget the heart attack I had when I saw her walk through my office door.
LikeLike
Whenever i was sick as a child, my mom would go out of her way to take great care of me. She would buy me coloring books, cook my favorite meal, and bring me home milkshakes 🙂
LikeLike
The nicest thing? Commenting at all! I’m such a newb to the world of blogging. The idea that someone stopped by, read what I had to say, and thought it was interesting enough to want to leave a comment thrills me! It’s like the biggest compliment to me. I loved this month, what’s easier than typing up a comment? Not much at all. I was happy to get to donate hundreds in such a simple way.
LikeLike
When my husband and I were dating, he sent me 10 different postcards each describing a characteristic he loves about me, then he routed them through the various “Valentine” post offices around the country. I got a couple of postcards a day for a whole week. It was so nice, it made me feel special and very loved.
LikeLike
I love my dogs. After I’d been away for an intensive two week training for work, my then-boyfriend drove 3 hours round-trip to pick up our dogs so when he picked me up at the airport the night of my return, he had the dogs waiting for me as a surprise. I cried – because I had missed them and was happy to see them and because he finally understood me, and got me the present that cost the least but meant the most.
Whenever I get mad at him in our dealings now as exes I try to remind myself of that good that is within him.
LikeLike
Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the kindness of others. I’ve been lucky to see so much kindness and receive so much myself. There is no limit to people’s kindness!
LikeLike