Awesome - A Widow Gets An Unexpected Surprise A Year After His Wife’s Death

 A man suffered a broken heart when his wife passed away. Often a small unconditional act of kindness is the best therapy. Have you ever had one of those moments that affect you in the biggest way? This story will certainly have an effect on your day.

Heartbreak

This man’s wife had a long and tiring battle with cancer. Recently widowed, he was low in spirits and was really struggling to come to terms with life alone. However, you never know what is just around the corner, and he never expected that his life would change just by ordering a pizza.

Staying Strong

Dennis Kust and his wife lived on Long Island in New York until his loving wife Cheryl sadly passed away in 2016, leaving 59 year old Dennis a widow. Understandably, he became lonely and depressed, and lost his oomph for life. He hadn’t been without her since he was 16, she was his sweetheart and he couldn’t fathom this new life.

Struggling

Kust said that while his wife was sick and knew that she wouldn’t make it, she would insist “You have to be strong, you have to be strong,” yet, Dennis as hard as he tried, he just couldn’t bear this pain that he felt, and the sheer loneliness. He would hear her voice and it broke him. he didn’t know where to turn or when the pain would end.

Anniversary

Things were slowly getting better, but his wife’s birthday arrived and the first anniversary of Cheryl’s passing was around the corner, which just opened up the sore wound again. Dennis was dreading this and it felt as though he took 10 steps back again and felt the heartache as if it had just happened. He didn’t really have friends to turn to for support.

 

Getting A Pie

March 25 2017 arrived and Dennis didn’t even want to get out of bed. However, his morning took an unexpected turn, when hunger took him to his local pizza restaurant. This day would change the course of his future, and he was about to receive an unexpected surprise.

A Surprise In A Box

Dennis was suddenly overcome with hunger, so went up to the cashier to order and pay for his pizza, when he was told that an anonymous customer had already ordered and paid for him. Dennis was immediately taken aback but also confused, he didn’t know who would have done that for him and why. So he took his pizza, ready to go home and eat alone. It was not until he got home and opened the pizza box that the surprise was revealed to him. Dennis was dumbfounded and lost for words at what he saw.

 

Stay strong

As he opened the box, he suddenly started to well up. The top of the pizza box read, “From one family to another… stay strong.” The message was surrounded by hearts and a cancer ribbon that had been colored on with crayon. Dennis was so shocked and grateful that someone would do something so meaningful and thoughtful for him. He wanted to know who was behind this.

 

His wife’s words

It wasn’t just the fact that someone bought him a pizza and paid that touched his heart, but the note that someone had taken the time to write and design. He didn’t even know
that anyone cared about him enough to do it. As Dennis mentioned his wife used to tell him to stay strong before she died. The anonymous pizza buyer knew how much these words meant to him and thought it would be meaningful for him to see his wife’s message again.

 

A message from Cheryl

The message was very meaningful and also uplifting for Dennis who remarked later in a CBS interview, “I wasn’t crying because I was sad anymore, I was crying because I felt like I got a message from [Cheryl].” On the anniversary of her death, Dennis felt like Cheryl was right there with him, he could feel her presence there making him feel stronger and soothing his pain. He couldn’t believe it came from an outing of going to get a simple pizza.

 

Many messages

As it would transpire, Dennis was not the first customer to receive a pizza with a meaningful message inscribed on it. The pizza store was Albert’s Pizza in Ronkonkoma, Islip, a town in Long Island. The pizza shop had sent out many other pizzas with messages on the box which made for many happy customers. Just a small message had changed the lives of so many. So how did it start?

 

What started it?

What inspired this small humble pizza shop to start sending out pizzas with secret messages in the box? The shop decided to start this loving initiative after the inauguration of the current United States president in 2017. The owners came up with the idea, as a way for the community to unite during a time that they believed was dividing people. It really is such a lovely gesture and makes one realize how one simple message can really change someone’s mindset.

 

Uniting the community

Political elections are known for being controversial and causing divide and arguments between people who would otherwise get along. The most recent U.S. election was one of these cases and the owner of Albert’s Pizza, Richard Baer, felt that the locals needed to unite and not divide over different political beliefs. These messages in pizza boxes were his way of creating a sense of ease during a testing time for the community. How did it begin?

 

Personalized pizzas

Baer started by making a campaign, whereby allowing customers to order pizzas for other people for $15. The person buying the pizza could either let the the other customer know who the pizza was from or remain anonymous. Inside every box was a personalised message to the person receiving it. There were certain rules of course.

 

Positivity

Baer came up with two rules for the messages. The most important, was that it could not mention anything political. Secondly, the message had to be positive, ensuring that the pizza messages were to bring people up not tear them down. The pizza shop made a social media campaign out of the idea as the pizza recipient could have their picture posted with them holding the box or hung up on the walls of the store.

 

The first message

The first pizza was paid for by some of the employees at Albert’s Pizza. They decided to send a pizza to someone who was mourning the loss of a loved one. The employees wanted to do an act of kindness for the person during the painful experience. The message on in the box said, “To someone who just lost a loved one: Here’s your sign that they’re with you.”

Pay it forward

The pizza was sent to someone whose mother had recently passed away. She was touched by the gesture and the heartfelt message inside the box. After that first pizza was sent, the idea grew until over 70 customers had been sent free pizzas by February in 2017. The shop called it a ‘pay it forward’ campaign and continued to send free pizzas to deserving customers who needed cheering up.

 

An emotional response

The pay it forward idea was really taking off and becoming meaningful gifts to those receiving them. But for Dennis especially, the pizza he received did much more than just make him smile. After Dennis opened the box, he became very emotional over the message and it caused him to do something very unexpected, and totally changed his whole mindset.

An unexpected reaction

Dennis felt so strongly about the gift he had received that he decided to do something. He felt extremely compelled to write a heartfelt letter explaining how much the gesture meant to him. He put his note inside the box and brought it back to the shop to give it to Richard to Baer. He needed to let him know what he did for him.

“You turned my life around”

What was even more unexpected was what Dennis had written in his letter. Dennis wrote, “You don’t know me, but on March 25 you turned my life around.” In an video interview with CBS, Baer read the letter and could hardly stop the tears from falling as he stood next to Dennis. He had changed this man’s life with his simple initiative.

Emotional interview

In the video, Baer shares how fulfilling his launch of the pay it forward campaign had been. He was so happy to see how positively the messages had impacted the receivers of the boxes and how his idea had turned into something so much bigger than he could ever imagined in his wildest dreams. In the interview, Baer is overcome with emotion and struggled to get his words out. Dennis intervened and embraced Baer, and together they supported each other.

Public notoriety

The story soon spread like wildfire throughout the community and many people became aware of the Dennis and Richard story. The reaction to the ‘pay it forward’ campaign was magnanimous and people were really on board with what the pizza shop was doing for those in need. The idea was inspiring the residents of the community to be kinder to each other. An idea that started on the local level was now all over the news and encouraging more and more people to do the same.

Online reaction

Of course it went viral online. A visitor on a website of a magazine dedicated to pizza wrote, “I love this. Way to go. What if we all did one great thing like this for someone else?” It seems as though everyone loved the idea of the pizza boxes with messages. It’s incredible to think that one small idea turned into a huge one and was getting recognition worldwide.

Saved his life

Dennis still does not know who sent him the pizza and he decided that he needed to send a message to the person while he was being interviewed. The message meant so much to Dennis and he reiterated this when he said in his CBS interview, “I want to thank those who bought it for me and let them know that they saved my life.”

A small act can make a big difference

A small act of kindness can have a greater effect than you can imagine. The message that Dennis received changed his life but the person who wrote it may not have known that, and simply wanted to make him smile. This story is a good reminder to all of us that even the smallest act that you may not think will have a difference may affect someone for the better and even change their life. Food for thought!

Beyond the pizza shop

The ‘pay it forward’ campaign that was started at Albert’s Pizza has gone beyond the local community and helped even more people. They decided to take the idea further and use it to raise money for a good cause. They have so far raised over $200,000 to go toward an ambulance. It is very heartwarming to see that the power of our actions can help for the good, and can spread like wildfire. If this story has taught us anything, it is to do one kind thing today, because you never know the impact it can have.