Plymouth Mother Gets Blessed with Random Act of Kindness at Market Basket

A Plymouth mother and her daughter were the centers of the ultimate holiday surprise after a total stranger paid for their groceries at Market Basket over the weekend. It was a beautiful reminder for Olivia Cosgrove that random acts of kindness can make the world a better place.

It All Started as a Typical Trip to Market Basket

“My daughter Fae is 16 months old and she loves to go food shopping with me,” Olivia Cosgrove said. “We take our time whenever we go and she says hello to everybody. We were making friends with a lot of people that morning.”

After waving and saying hello to every person who passed by, Fae and her mother walked over to the cash register.

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“We walked over to check out and we went through the normal bagging process when all of a sudden a manager came over to me.”

Cosgrove thought the manager was just being kind and helping her bag her groceries until she saw the woman take out a credit card and pay for her groceries.

Cosgrove was shocked. Things like this rarely happen, especially to her.

“She said, ‘Somebody wanted to pay for this for you,’ and I kept asking her, ‘Who was it?’ but she wouldn’t budge,” Cosgrove said. “I (left) the store so happy and shocked, and I was smiling at everyone I passed just in case I passed the person who did that for me. It was so out of the blue and shocking.”

Spreading the Message of Kindness

Cosgrove decided to share her story online in hopes of catching the eye of the anonymous payer, as well as sharing an important message.

“I just wanted that person to know how much I appreciated it,” she said. “The groceries were around $120, and it paid for my daughter’s milk and weekly groceries. I shared (the experience) not only to thank them but also wanted to give a gentle reminder to everyone, just be nice to everybody.

“Here’s your reminder to do something kind for a stranger with no expectation of anything in return. This time of year can be incredibly difficult for so many missing a loved one, struggling financially, etc. It’s the little things.”

Leading a life with kindness and grace should be a year-round thing, and it’s moments like this that serve as special reminders of just how powerful kindness can be.