Sometimes I talk about random generosity.

It’s the idea of randomly, spontaneously blessing the people around you. It may be as simple as gratitude to the flight attendant or humor with the person at the coffee counter.

But it’s also the idea that I might pull a $20, $50, or $100 bill out of my pocket and bless the guy cleaning the restroom for doing a great job. To say thanks … with money.

I’ve written on this before … you can click here.

Recently, I came across this good news story. It’s a random generosity story.

In 1999, Adya Zugay was nearly 12 years old when she and her 17-year-old sister fled Yugoslavia. On the flight to the United States, a woman handed them an envelope and made them promise not to open it until they got off the plane.

When they opened the envelope, they found some dangly earrings and $100. On the front of the envelope was this simple message:

“I am so sorry that the bombing of your country has caused your family any problems. I hope your stay in America will be a safe and happy one for you — Welcome to America — please use this to help you here. A friend from the plane — TRACY ”

The $100 allowed the two sisters to feed themselves for most of a summer. But most of all, it gave them hope.

Now more than 20 years later, Adya has been on a search to find Tracy. Through social media. Contacting the airlines. Contacting refugee groups. She found it amazing that someone was willing to make a gift for someone like them—refugees.

In the end, a CNN news story connected Adya to her generous donor, Tracy Peck. Adya could finally say thank you.

This act of generosity served as a welcome, a point of relief, that all was going to be okay. Perhaps you’ll make one random act of generosity today as well?

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash.

Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published June 27, 2022

Topics: Generosity