When you celebrate your birthday, you usually receive gifts. When Catiana Chirka celebrated her 13th birthday this weekend, she decided to throw that party train into full reverse. She took her friends and her dad out to Sobeys where they handed out treats to numerous surprised but appreciative shoppers.
“My mom showed me some videos of some girls doing random acts of kindness for their birthdays, doing all kinds of fun things around town. I wanted to do something like that too.”
She had a bunch of different ideas that she was toying with for the experience. In the end, she settled on one that was simple and straightforward, one that would probably put the biggest smiles on the most faces: roses and cookies.
The effect of giving unexpected gifts brought a lot of joy to the recipients and to Catiana and her team too.
“It was really fun to see people’s faces light up and see how grateful they were, saying, ‘Oh wow, thank you so much. Keep doing what you’re doing. Happy birthday.’”
Temperatures were a little chilly for the messengers of goodwill, she noted.
“We all had fun. [My friends] all really enjoyed handing out the flowers. We were all a little bit cold though because we thought we were going to do it inside…”
Chirka’s father, Morris, couldn’t be prouder of his daughter for wanting and trying to make the world a happier, better place. He said that she’s no stranger to random acts of kindness. Together, they hand out blankets, clothing and food on a regular basis.
“She wanted to hand out roses to everyone and Dad’s Cookies just to make everyone feel good. That was her birthday wish. As a father, it’s just so awesome.”
