By Khalida Sarwari
When the city of Saratoga declared Feb. 17 as “Random Acts of Kindness Day,” residents rose to the challenge. From baking a cake to welcoming their new neighbors to taking a friend to a doctor’s appointment to buying meals and coats for down-on-their-luck folks, many Saratogans opened their hearts to lessen their neighbors’ burdens or at least help put a smile on a stranger’s face.
One standout resident was Renee Paquier, who chairs the administration of justice department at West Valley College. To pull off her random acts, Paquier enlisted the help of folks from just about every corner of the Saratoga community she is affiliated with.
At school, she brought the idea forward to her class, and more than 100 of her students quickly jumped at her offer to participate in the campaign, spreading their own brand of kindness throughout their respective hometowns.
One of her students, Pedro Alba, told her that for his part, he approached a homeless man sitting on the curb of a shopping plaza near his house and asked him how he was doing. When the man, whom Alba identified as Brock, revealed that he was hungry, Alba offered to buy him lunch at the Jack in the Box nearby. Brock accepted his offer, and the two of them proceeded to share a meal and conversation outside. Upon leaving, Alba said he left Brock with a $20 bill to buy himself more food later.
“I felt good after and this gave me motivation to keep going in life,” he said, adding, “This took a total of approximately 35 minutes.”
As an instructor in the administration of justice program, Paquier said she felt it imperative to have future community leaders and law enforcement officers participate in this event. And it looks like they didn’t let her down.
“I am extremely proud of the random acts of kindness that they came up with and feel confident that these students will be future leaders that will always go that extra mile and just be aware of the community and their needs,” she said.
Paquier, a former Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy, also rallied her pals at the West Valley Division Substation and her fellow Saratoga Rotary Club members to perform kind acts at the Saratoga Senior Center. To show their appreciation for the staff and community members there, Rotary members and sheriff’s officers handed out roses and Hershey’s kisses.
The warm reception they received made their efforts more than worthwhile, said Paquier. For instance, after Detective Chad Biscardi got through explaining his different duties, one of the Adult Day Care Center members thanked him for everything he does for the community and handed her rose back to him as an expression of her gratitude.
Paquier also got Brittany Gardner’s third-grade class at Marshall Lane Elementary School to participate by writing notes to their school resource officer, Deputy Chad Garton. The kids thanked Garton for the time that he spends at the school and in the community keeping them safe.
The brainchild behind “Random Acts of Kindness Day” is Louise Webb, a Saratoga resident who serves as a spokesperson for the city’s sister city board. She presented her idea for the campaign at a Feb. 3 city council meeting after which Mayor Manny Cappello officially declared Feb. 17 as “Random Acts of Kindness Day.” This isn’t the first time Webb has pulled this off; she was also behind the first “Random Acts of Kindness Day” on Feb. 17, 1995.
She said she has enjoyed receiving feedback from the community in the form of phone calls and emails.
“I was just amazed at how nice people were about it,” said Webb. “They really came forth and they wrote, ‘Oh, this is such a great idea to be done every year.’ “
Saratoga resident Judy Reed wrote to tell her that on her way to Chico to spend time with her family one weekend, she paid for the car behind her at the toll booth. “It felt great to do that for someone I didn’t know,” she said in her email.
Another resident, Deb Freeman, told Webb, “My favorite random act of kindness this week involved pulling leftover toilet paper from a woman’s skirt before she walked out of the restroom!”
Like they say, kindness comes in many forms.
