Roaring with Kindness

Random acts of kindness occur all the time - but I think for most of us, they're rare. That's why I loved the concept of Yahoo!'s Ripples of Kindness campaign. It's kind of an experiment - to see if doing a kind thing for a stranger will move others to pay it forward and cause a -- well, a ripple.

And Yahoo! helped start the ripples by providing several members of the Motherboard with some seed money: $100 to use however we wanted. The only instruction was to be creative.

And my colleagues put it to good use. If you look at the different entries on the Ripples of Kindness page, you'll see wonderful tales of buying blankets for homeless strangers, paying for commuters' morning coffee, giving books to children whose families could not afford them.

I cashed my Yahoo! check and vowed to do something similar; perhaps I would hang out at my local Starbucks after school drop off and buy lattes for everyone in line behind me. Or maybe I could follow my daughter to the school with a box full of needed supplies. Those ideas were not all that creative, but they would be easy and fun.

But first, I had to take care of some business -- this included a trip down to San Diego for an automotive site I write for. Ford was launching the latest incarnation of the Explorer and had invited the press down to San Diego for a test drive, which included an extensive off road track.

Prior to our departure, I was asked to sign a release form, which is standard operating procedure when you're part of an event that a company may be photographing for publicity purposes. The part that wasn't standard was a clause that held them harmless in case I was injured from an encounter with lions, tigers or bears.

I thought it was a joke.

And then, we got to our destination: An animal preserve called Lions, Tigers & Bears.

And I saw these guys:

And him:

and this little lady:

Lions, Tigers & Bears is a 501(c) (3) non-profit, no breed, no kill, no sell exotic animal rescue facility that is currently home to 17 species, including Bengal Tigers, African Lions, bobcats, an African Serval, a mountain lion and a leopard, as well as a variety of ranch and farm animals -- many of which were abused before their rescue and relocation.

The workers I came in contact with were all volunteers, who told me how the organization has massive expenses: $45,000 per month just to feed the animals - plus they need to pay for veterinary care, insurance, maintenance, and all the usual expenses of a business (even a non-profit).

I had $100 in cash sitting in my purse, and it seemed to be calling me. I whipped it out.

"Will this help?" I asked the surprised volunteer.

Her face lit up. I'm pretty sure she didn't expect that -- not from one of the jaded automotive writers who were being wined and dined on the property by Ford.

I left the compound feeling really good. One hundred dollars is a drop in the bucket when weighed against the food budget there - but I've done fundraising, and I know -- every little bit helps. And who knows? By writing about it here, I may be creating a new ripple of my own.

Donna Schwartz Mills is a Los Angeles-based writer for CBS Digital Los Angeles, AskPatty.com and her personal blog, SoCal Mom.