We’ve all heard the stories.

The young guys who pay an elderly woman’s fuel bill; the driver who forks out for the motorway toll of the car behind them; or the person who picks up the tab for a family to have a rare meal out together.

They’re been dubbed Random Acts of Kindness – and it’s a movement that is sweeping the world, particularly among young people increasingly looking for life’s purpose beyond shallow consumerism.

On Sunday, our pastor challenged the church to make May the month for AOK (Acts of Kindness). I couldn’t help but think what an awesome month it may be if the movement spread right across the Sunshine Coast – not just among church folk but the whole community.

At a time when many families are struggling with higher interest rates, soaring fuel prices and ever-increasing grocery prices, what a difference a little kindness could make in all of our lives.

And it doesn’t have to involve just money.

It can be the most simple of things – delivering blankets to welfare agencies to hand out to the homeless. With the cold nights of the last week, we all know they could certainly use them as they huddle under bridges, on park benches or in toilet blocks.

Or perhaps it’s volunteering to work with groups like Meals on Wheels – many of whom are struggling with limited numbers of volunteers, some of whom are just as much in need of help as the people they are serving.

Across the world, there are some amazing ideas being developed.

In Wisconsin, a group of bored youths decided to do a “drive-by flowering”. They went to different fields and gathered bunches of wildflowers – filling a family van with flowers and a fair bit of dirt – before leaving bunches at the doorway and on cars of teachers, family members and friends.

Another kind neighbour instituted a day where they went out and bought flowers, putting them in the plastic newspaper bags in their street. The next day the neighbour said, “I got a flower in my newspaper!” and she just said, “Someone cares for you.”

Another family, for the past two years, has sent birthday cards and gifts to women living in a shelter who have AIDS.

Elsewhere, inmates at a prison create fabric cover for stuffed animals which volunteers then stuff with padding and sew together to give to children in hospital.

Another group is donating books to Year 4 students – each one containing an encouraging note for the children. When they are finished reading the book, they pass it on to another child to read, ensuring the gift keeps on giving.

On the Coast, there are so many opportunities – particularly among our nursing homes and retirement villages.

There are already church and music groups who visit on a weekly basis, bringing song and cheer to elderly who may otherwise never receive a visitor.

High school students and youth groups are already gaining a name for themselves on the Coast by running working bees at the homes of Coast widows and the elderly, while entire schools have had makeovers on the Coast thanks to the initiative of our kindest souls.

Some families have even encouraged their children to start a “kindness journal”, where they record on a regular basis what they have done as an encouragement to foster a spirit of kindness in their kids.

One boy revealed how his good deed was to make friends with a boy who had been mean to him and bullied him since the first day of school.

His mother asked: “What possessed you to be friends with someone who has been mean to you all year?”

“I gave it a lot of thought and realised he was lonely and didn’t know how to make friends, and that was why he was mean,’’ the boy replied.

Little wonder that since then the boy has stopped hitting and calling other kids names – and has since been accepted into the kind boy’s group of friends.

There is now even a women’s group which meets on a monthly basis for coffee where members talk about the three acts of kindness they have done each week and the group they have volunteered for – whether an animal shelter, cancer support group, scouts, girl guides or the like.

The ideas are endless for acts of kindness, but often the most simple gestures can have the most powerful impact.

And if you’re shy, why not start your AOK efforts among family and friends at home or at work – your colleague may fall over if you make them a coffee or bring in some goodies for morning tea, but the look of stunned surprise may be the best reward!