Check It Out: A young man’s radical acts of kindness

By Joan Janzen

I saw a poster the other day that said, “Sorry I annoyed you with all my kindness.” The poster is humorous but true; people aren’t accustomed to receiving kindness. An old Beatles song said, “I get by with a little help from my friends; I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends.”

However, I listened to a young man share stories of how he is helping complete strangers. The result is people who have given up on life are trying once again because they’ve received a little help from a stranger.

Jimmy Darts, who is in his 20’s, shared his stories in an online interview with Kris Vallotton. Jimmy is passionate about his kindness campaign, which can only be described as acts of kindness on steroids.

As a kid growing up in Minnesota, he said he was wild with an adventurous spirit, but he also had an incredible need to exercise generosity. “One of the main ways I got started was at Christmas. My parents always gave us $200, $100 to keep, and $100 to give away to someone who had a need,” Jimmy explained. “So I got comfortable interacting with strangers.”

As a teen, he went through a phase where he made party videos just to get attention for himself. When he got older, he went off the internet for about four years, but when he went back on, he decided he wanted to do something worthwhile. He came to realize the power of social media could be used to make content that would help people, and he got the inspiration to do what he felt he was created to do. Here are some of the stories he shared.

While walking on the beach in Miami, he saw a homeless man living in a tent, and he asked him, “Hey, sir, would you like to be friends for the day?” The man said he didn’t see why not since he was just sitting there.

“We went out and played basketball, went rollerblading, had something to eat,” Jimmy said. “On the car ride home, we were stuck in traffic, and the man started to cry.”

The man told Jimmy, “I was actually suicidal until I met you, but just being friends changed everything.” Jimmy asked if the man had a cash app on his phone, and he said he did.

“I made a video and put his cash app on the end of the video. I expected to get a couple hundred bucks.” But the next morning, he had thousands of dollars. Now the man is no longer living on the beach.

The next story Jimmy shared was about a blind man. He had seen a news story about the man who was blind and partially deaf, who sold brooms on the street. “So I flew to Arizona to find this gentleman,” Jimmy said.

He found the man, bought one of his brooms and got to know him. The man said his wife had cancer, and he had run into a lot of misfortune. He wanted to be a car salesman, but no one would hire him.

Jimmy made a Go Fund Me page for him, and within 24 hours, $100,000 had been raised. The next day Jimmy lined up a bunch of people, giving them money to purchase all of the man’s brooms and merchandise, and then gave the man the remaining funds that had been raised.

“Then I introduced him to a buddy of mine who has a car dealership, and he hired him on the spot,” Jimmy said, adding that the dealership has generated a ton of business as a result of the video. “And they’ll probably give me a car that I can give away,” the young man added.

One of Jimmy’s favourite stories was when he started a campaign where he’d give $500 to the first stranger he met who agreed to give him a hug. He pulled over when he saw a man on a bike wearing paint splattered coveralls. Jimmy told the man he hadn’t seen his family for a while and just needed a hug. The man gave him a hug, and Jimmy handed him $500; the man started to cry.

He said he was an immigrant who hadn’t seen his family for 18 years and was working in the US, sending them money. Jimmy raised $50,000 for the man, who was then able to move back home, buy a house and start a business, and is successful today. It’s just one of hundreds of stories Jimmy has to share, but he has a vision to do much more.

“One of my visions is I want to end bullying in high schools. I want to create a grant, partner up with the school system, and whatever student is the kindest throughout three years of high school gets that grant,” he explained. The grant wouldn’t just be for college, but to equip the young person for whatever they want to do in the future.”

“I love social media for what we can do and the power of the people. But I say to my followers; you are way more impactful than me. You’re doing this stuff, and no one ever knows,” he said.

Young Jimmy has a wealth of wisdom to share. “You don’t have to have tons of money. You can be generous and buy someone a cup of coffee, open a door for someone. All people need is a little pick me up to rewrite some of those stories when people betrayed them and made them feel like life is dark,” he said.

As for Jimmy, he plans to keep doing his radical acts of kindness. “It’s fun; people love it. Deep down, everyone has a desire to live like Jesus lived, no matter what you believe. People want to get involved. Everyone has something specific they can do,” he concluded.

Jimmy is a breath of fresh air amidst an often-times negative world. Hopefully, he inspires you to have a positive impact on those around you.