Donna Paraggio, secretary for Dayton Company, Jacksonville Battalion
Random Reward for an Unrandom Act of Kindness
Cynthia Rivers-Womack, USAREC, Jacksonville Battalion
Dec. 30, 2014
Being a mother, Donna Paraggio could relate to the predicament in front of her. Her act of kindness was therefore not random but would later be recognized as such.
On July 17 Paraggio, secretary for Daytona Company, Jacksonville Recruiting Battalion, was in line at a grocery store last spring.
“I was standing behind this woman who was trying to pay for a cart full of groceries with various credit cards but each card she pulled out was declined,” she remembered. “She was unable to pay the entire bill. I realized that I could do something about it and I told the cashier I would pay the balance.”
Faced with a situation where she could make a difference in a life by helping someone in need, Paraggio did so with little thought. She identified with the situation — young mother with three children, a shopping cart full of groceries — and her money had run out. The same thing had never happened to Paraggio, but she empathized with a mother’s need to feed her family.
“When I told the cashier I would pay the balance due, the cashier began to cry,” Paraggio said. Everyone close by was overcome with the act of generosity.
“Sometimes you have to listen to the angel on your shoulder,” she said.
The story ended there for Paraggio but not for her daughter Tiffany, who submitted her mother’s name to the ABC television morning talk show, “Live! with Kelly and Michael” and its Random Acts of Kindness segment.
The show partnered with Extra gum to select five people to receive RAK recognition in the form of $500 and a year-supply of Extra gum.
Paraggio found out she was one of five when her sister called while watching the announcement on television.
“I didn’t think what I did was a big deal, but when my sister called me at work and told me she saw my picture on the Kelly and Michael show as a Random of Acts of Kindness winner I didn’t believe her,” Paraggio said. “Then, I asked the commander if I could run home — only 10 minutes away from the company headquarters — to see the show for myself. I was overwhelmed.”
She received notification of her win early in November. Paraggio and her daughter attended a taping of the show Thanksgiving week and Paraggio met show co-host Michael Strahan.
Cynthia Rivers-Womack, USAREC, Jacksonville Battalion
Dec. 30, 2014
Being a mother, Donna Paraggio could relate to the predicament in front of her. Her act of kindness was therefore not random but would later be recognized as such.
On July 17 Paraggio, secretary for Daytona Company, Jacksonville Recruiting Battalion, was in line at a grocery store last spring.
“I was standing behind this woman who was trying to pay for a cart full of groceries with various credit cards but each card she pulled out was declined,” she remembered. “She was unable to pay the entire bill. I realized that I could do something about it and I told the cashier I would pay the balance.”
Faced with a situation where she could make a difference in a life by helping someone in need, Paraggio did so with little thought. She identified with the situation — young mother with three children, a shopping cart full of groceries — and her money had run out. The same thing had never happened to Paraggio, but she empathized with a mother’s need to feed her family.
“When I told the cashier I would pay the balance due, the cashier began to cry,” Paraggio said. Everyone close by was overcome with the act of generosity.
“Sometimes you have to listen to the angel on your shoulder,” she said.
The story ended there for Paraggio but not for her daughter Tiffany, who submitted her mother’s name to the ABC television morning talk show, “Live! with Kelly and Michael” and its Random Acts of Kindness segment.
The show partnered with Extra gum to select five people to receive RAK recognition in the form of $500 and a year-supply of Extra gum.
Paraggio found out she was one of five when her sister called while watching the announcement on television.
“I didn’t think what I did was a big deal, but when my sister called me at work and told me she saw my picture on the Kelly and Michael show as a Random of Acts of Kindness winner I didn’t believe her,” Paraggio said. “Then, I asked the commander if I could run home — only 10 minutes away from the company headquarters — to see the show for myself. I was overwhelmed.”
She received notification of her win early in November. Paraggio and her daughter attended a taping of the show Thanksgiving week and Paraggio met show co-host Michael Strahan.