Alms Anon
Share your stories! Join our community!
Encourage Giving, Celebrate Receiving
What is Alms Anon?
About Alms Anon
Alms is perhaps to some people a somewhat old-fashioned word for charitable giving. We encourage others to experience the joy of giving and the celebration of receiving.
We are you and anyone else who wants to share their stories with others
We see this website as a conduit – a means of encouraging people to help others
In keeping with our mission, your anonymity is guaranteed
Who We Are
The idea for almsanon was multi-determined. My faith as a Christian has long informed me about charity, and I have given my time and financial support to the Catholic Church and my particular parish.
The more immediate impetus arose from an editorial I read by a fellow who wrote about randomly giving money to people whom he perceived were in need. I began doing the same thing and then decided to create a website that encourages the many ways in which we can give to others.
Although we live in fractious and turbulent times, it has ever been so throughout human history. It is easy for our attention to be drawn away from the many good deeds people do, which must be entered into the scales against all the suffering in the world.
Many Ways to Give
There are many ways to give to others. Perhaps the simplest way is to give someone financial help — anything from a few dollars to a homeless person to a larger donation to a trusted charitable organization. Sometimes just spending time with someone who needs to talk is a gift.
But there are many other ways to give as well, which is why we are asking you to share your stories.
Your examples of giving will guide and inspire others. As our collection of stories grows, it will help others come up with their own ideas.
Share Your Story!
People are meant to share with each other.
Giving and receiving are basic to our human nature. Our customs, our legal institutions, our religions, all embrace it. Even before the arrival of civilization, we evolved in communities whose survival depended on sharing.
Everyone gives and everyone receives.
Send us your story of giving or receiving. If we edit it in any way we will return it to you for your approval. Then we’ll publish it here. We will only use first names (or no names at all) in your story. Your identity will be carefully protected, never shared, completely anonymous.
STORIES OF GIVING
HANDYMAN
03/2023
My recently divorced neighbor needed a few small, fairly simple jobs done at her house. I am handy and was happy to make these few repairs. After each little task, she made coffee for us and we chatted. We became friends.
FIREWOOD
02/2023
I happened to drop by for a visit with one of my oldest friends. He had a lot of firewood in the back of his truck. I helped him unload it.
A SPONTANEOUS ACT OF GIVING
Sometimes my best actions spring from impulse or maybe the Spirit. My daughter’s best friend’s mother died when our girls were teenagers. Her mother was my friend, too, and we all shared our memories and love for her at her funeral service.
At a reception following, I went up to hug her daughter one mor
A SPONTANEOUS ACT OF GIVING
Sometimes my best actions spring from impulse or maybe the Spirit. My daughter’s best friend’s mother died when our girls were teenagers. Her mother was my friend, too, and we all shared our memories and love for her at her funeral service.
At a reception following, I went up to hug her daughter one more time, but before doing so, I removed the necklace I was wearing with a guardian angel pendant that her mother had once given me for my birthday. I put it around her daughter’s neck and said, “Your mother wants me to give this to you. She is now your guardian angel.”
For years afterward, her daughter always wore the guardian angel pendant her mother had given me and that I had given her. I love most that the moment
presented itself and that I responded.
+ Sara, Austin, TX
AIRPORT ALMS
At the airport one morning, seated near a mom with a baby about six months old in a stroller, I overheard her on the phone telling someone, “Formula costs ten dollars!” She sounded both frustrated and resigned. I recalled how hard it was to travel with hungry children. I also remembered the days when I felt stret
AIRPORT ALMS
At the airport one morning, seated near a mom with a baby about six months old in a stroller, I overheard her on the phone telling someone, “Formula costs ten dollars!” She sounded both frustrated and resigned. I recalled how hard it was to travel with hungry children. I also remembered the days when I felt stretched and stressed by the high costs of travel. As I stood up to go to the gate, I slipped her a ten dollar bill and said, “Forgive me for eavesdropping but it sounds like you can use this more than I can.” I like to think that maybe this gift helped ease the voyage for two of them.
+ Louise
Austin, TX
GIVING AND RECEIVING
Herb owned a clock repair shop for years on an island in Puget Sound. Once, he received a request to repair a clock in the home of a fellow who had a reputation for being rather ornery and unfriendly. Herb went to his house and repaired the clock but would not charge him. Soon, Herb began to find regul
GIVING AND RECEIVING
Herb owned a clock repair shop for years on an island in Puget Sound. Once, he received a request to repair a clock in the home of a fellow who had a reputation for being rather ornery and unfriendly. Herb went to his house and repaired the clock but would not charge him. Soon, Herb began to find regular gifts of fresh, locally harvested crabs on his doorstep. Years later after the man had passed away, Herb received a call from the man’s widow. She needed the clock repaired again. After Herb fixed it, she asked how much she owed him. Herb said, “No charge. I still have crabs in my freezer that your husband gave me.”
+sent by Herb's friend
Whidbey Island
A GOOD MAN
When we were building a house, the fellow who operated the portable toilet truck would come every week to service the unit. There was something about him that impressed us. He seemed to have a natural kindness, and he took special care in doing his job. A year or so later, we happened to see him servicing another location. We
A GOOD MAN
When we were building a house, the fellow who operated the portable toilet truck would come every week to service the unit. There was something about him that impressed us. He seemed to have a natural kindness, and he took special care in doing his job. A year or so later, we happened to see him servicing another location. We greeted him, thanked him again, and gave him $20.00.
+ anonymous
Whidbey Island
Friendship
Billy was getting older and unable to drive or walk the short distance to his long-time friends who gather at a coffee shop in the morning. People he has known for years. A neighbor who would sometimes join the coffee group began taking him every morning to meet his friends.
+ anonymous
Whidbey Island
STORIES OF RECEIVING
HEARTS AND HAMMERS TOOK AWAY OUR JUNK PILE
After about 20 years of piling up, we had a lot of junk to get rid of. It was pretty overwhelming, and would have been really expensive to, so we asked Hearts and Hammers for help. They showed up and took care of the job. We were very grateful for these hard-working volunteers.
A True Friend
My oldest friend, whom I've known since birth, knew that I would be having an outpatient surgery in a nearby town. He called to ask if I had a ride to the surgical center. I had arranged only for my daughter to pick me up. She had a newborn, so it was kind of her to offer. My friend -- who is like a brother -- said not only would he take me but he would wait there until I was able to leave. He had to wait at least three hours. I still do not know how I can adequately thank him for his generosity
Harry the cat
Harry the cat
The best neighbors
Meet Tony, one of the friendliest cats in the world. He loves everyone and everyone loves him. He likes to hang out all day on our neighbor's front porch. They feed some stray cats in the evening, so sometimes when I forget to fetch our cat, our neighbor will bring him over. And they never complain about him. Another neighbor lives across the street, and if she sees our cat crossing the busy street between us, she''ll protect him and text me to get him. Such kindness!
Harry the cat
Harry the cat
Harry the cat
After Gary’s beloved cat Harry had disappeared for five weeks, he assumed he was gone for good. Then a neighbor called to say she thought that she’d seen Harry high up in a giant cedar tree. Gary tried to reach him with an extension ladder but Harry jumped even higher up in the tree and Gary couldn’t reach him. Desperate, he called an arborist he knew and learned that the crew was working close by. The owner, Jesse, and his four-man crew dropped what they were doing and rescued Harry. It took them four hours to coax the cat down. Gary tried to pay them. They refused. They said they love cats and rescue them for people.
+ Michael S.
Langley, WA