Young brothers' random act of kindness means so much to Asda colleagues
"It brought a tear to my eye; it's a simple gesture that means so much."
That's what colleagues at our Gillingham store in Dorset say about a card they received from three-year-old Toby and his brother Tommy, who's four, thanking them for everything they're doing during the lockdown.
Their card read: "Tommy and Toby say ... not all heroes wear capes. Always be proud of the person that you are, the work that you do, and the difference that you make."
The kind-hearted brothers, who live in Norfolk, are aiming to send 999 cards and gifts to ambulance crews, emergency staff, rescue services and key workers across the country.
Their mum Lisa helps manage the Hit the Ambulance Gamers Facebook group, which sends cards and leaves little surprise gifts for key workers and is where our Gillingham store was nominated.
Emma Sleeth, the store's community champion, says colleagues were really touched by the boys' kindness.
She said: "It brought a tear to my eye; it's a simple gesture that means so much. The fact that they took the time out of their day to say thank you for all the hard work we in Asda are doing means the world. It just makes you feel that you're doing a good job and supporting the community, which is priceless.
"It was a real surprise when I found out that the family live in Norfolk, and it really is a random act of kindness that's put a smile on so many faces in the store."
Emma wrote back to say thank you, sending the boys colouring books as a token of their appreciation.
The card and accompanying letter are now proudly on display in the store.
The Hit the Ambulance Gamers Facebook group was set up in February and already has 74,000 members. “Hitting” an ambulance is a term used by people who leave nice things on the ambulance for the crew to enjoy upon their return and can range from a lovely uplifting note to a bar of chocolate.
Back in November Tommy and Toby asked Lisa if they could send at least 999 hits by post, sending letters, photos, drawings and cards to every ambulance station in the UK with the help of people who donated stamps. The boys are sending their cards most days.
In their note, they wrote: "As we enter another lockdown Mummy will be home schooling us all but she says it is still important to make time to continue with our random acts of kindness so we are going to have a daily kindness lesson where we continue to write letters and colour in pictures to send to police stations, fire stations, hospitals, doctors' surgeries, dental surgeries, pharmacies, care homes, schools, colleges, nurseries, retail etc to show they are appreciated and boost morale. You name them, we hit them."