Woman gives 50 gifts on her 50th birthday
BUTLER TWP — Instead of receiving birthday gifts this year, Cindi Converso had another plan.
She wanted to give gifts to others on her 50th birthday.
Converso of Butler Township spent her Dec. 5 birthday performing more than 50 random acts of kindness throughout Butler and Beaver counties.
She found the experience to be much more than she imagined.
“It was such a life-changing thing for me,” she said. “I reached out of my comfort zone. It made me feel so good to make them happy.”
Converso came up with the idea two years ago after reading a blog about a family whose members spent their summer doing random acts of kindness for their neighbors.
“I thought, 'You know what, that would be really cool to do on my birthday,'” she said.
Several months ago with her birthday approaching, she began searching for ideas. She knew police and firemen would be on her list, but she had to put some thought into who else to include and what to do for them.
“(We picked) anyone who touched our lives throughout the course of the year,” Converso said.
Susan Chaffee of Industry, who said she and Converso have been friends for 40 years, was one of the first people in whom Converso confided her plan.
“I wanted to share that with her,” Chaffee said. “It was a great experience. It was fun.”
When Converso told her 13-year-old daughter, Allison Wallace, of her plan, the teen thought it couldn't all be done in only one day.
“I thought it seemed sort of ambitious at the time, doing so much in one day,” she said.
Bright and early Dec. 5 the trio set out in a minivan packed with candy hugs and kisses, poinsettias and candy canes.
“It takes so little to do something nice for somebody,” Converso said. “I wanted to do this for my birthday to lift me.”
She taped quarters to parking meters, lottery tickets to gas pumps and candy canes to parked cars.
Every act of kindness included a note from Converso.
“I'm celebrating my 50th birthday with 50 Random Acts of Kindness. Thanks for being a part of my special day,” the notes read.Ellen Garbuny of Butler Township was having a bad day and a bad experience at a local gas station when she saw Converso's note and then the scratch-off lottery ticket.Garbuny called the find a “day brightener.”“It erased my frustration and annoyance at the other person and really made my day,” she said. “It was such a nice thing to find it.”The group stopped at the hospital in Beaver County to leave magazines, hot chocolate and tea for the nurses and poinsettias for the patients and at a laundromat to leave a bag of quarters on a machine. The group also taped bags of microwave popcorn on Redbox movie rental kiosks.Converso said although she had fun with all the stops, there were a few she “really, really liked.”She purchased hot chocolate for many service workers during the day including gas station employees and Salvation Army bell ringers, but Converso said they didn't expect the reaction from one of the gas station attendants.“He was just beside himself,” she said of the man, who works at a full-service station in Evans City. “It caught us by surprise.”Allison said her favorite activity was the trip to the Butler Township police to drop off stuffed animals and cookies. Officers keep the stuffed animals in their cars to hand out to children involved in accidents or other situations.“I felt like we got the most positivity out of that one, and we really didn't get that caught off-guard reaction,” Allison said.Chaffee and Converso both said the trip to put two $5 Target gift cards on cars was one of their favorites because they got to see the reaction of the recipients.“With all the bad going on in the world, it's just good to see the positive,” Chaffee said.In all the trip took most of a day. “I thought with all of the happiness that my mother would sort of get sidetracked,” Allison said. “But we actually got it all done. That surprised me.”Converso started a Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/50birthdaygiftstome, both to share her experiences and because she knew people would wonder about the acts of kindness.
