Letters to SSSSH
Some of the good-deed letters received at the Hal Reichle
Post Office Box 642 and at the SSSSH Website from
secret members of SSSSH!
To help navigate through these received good-deed letters, they are bookmarked by date and by special event.
SSSSH letters by year |
SSSSH letters from Events
|
2007
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
I am very much interrested in your organisation. As I am working for "RTL TV" in Germany I'd like to report on your ideas. Do you have any information about people in northern Germany who join SSSSH? I am very thankfull for your reply.
Hello. I am 16 years old and about 2 years ago I started up my own society of anonymous good deeds. This including shoveling snow, donations all around to charities and to families in need, wrapping up teddybears and stuff animals for christmas to give away, saved the clothes we were going to throw out and bundle them all up together and put in a drop box. A pretty well rounded society helping animals and humans anonymously. I was looking up charities to give to our schools "Cabaret Night" funds to and this name came up. I became instantly intrigued with the concept mostly because its just like mine and the idea of anonymous giving is not dead. I would like to know if my organization can be a part of yours. I am very interested in helping people and I would love to be a part of your society. Please contact me with information regarding your society and how my society can take part. Thank you.
Dear Ssssh-Team,
I am TV reporter from Austria Vienna and I recently read a great interview Roger Cram. I think the idea of your organisation is great. I would love to do a TV-report (for the city-magazine METRO) about it. What I really need would be someone in Austria who is part of Ssssh and who could provide me with some information... To get in touch with me please use my E-Mail Adress (simon.schennach@pulstv.at)
I hope you can help me.
dear SSSSH!,
I´m a student from Germany and this was my first good-deed: In one of the appartements in my house lives a man who only loves his car. One day he lost his drivers license and his papers for the car. I found them and bought a wallet of leather that helps him to have his papers and license always by the hand and organized. I left the wallet at his door before he came back. He still does not know who returned his papers;)
bye
I purchased inspirational bookmarks and put them in my favorite books when I shelved them at the library with a SSSSH card.
i arranged for 5 frames to be "donated" to our elementary school to highlight some or the artists-in-residence. the frame shop was tickled to be a part of the plot and donated exceptionally lovely frames. the art teacher was not expecting the beautiful frames and was blown away by the gift.
i read in a german magazine about hal and his deeds. i was so impressed that i started to SSSSH!! immediately. first, i bought credits for pre-pay mobile phones and filled in random phone numbers until the machine told me "payment done". then i wrote an anonymous short message from the web to this number and told the person about SSSSH!!. my second good deed was to give some money and a SSSSH!! card to the barkeeper in my favourite club, telling him the third person who orders a drink will get it for free, and how important it is for me to stay anonymous. he just had to give him/her the card and keep the change. my third good deed was to fuel the car of a good friend by taking the alternative key and removing the car at night. chalk marks on the ground helped me park the car back into the lot as accurately as possible. finally i put a SSSSH!!-card behind the wipers and left. the result was a stunned friend and a story that he will still be telling his grandchildren. SSSSH!! did enrich my life. i will go on forever!
June 18, 2007
I'm from Germany and at easter this year I hid more than 100 chocolate easter eggs in a little village. I did that at midnight and it was very funny.
June 23, 2007
When I was driving an hour home from college one day, I got off Interstate 81 to get something to eat @ Mcdonald's. I noticed a man with a sign. The sign read "I need to get home." I will not give money to people who are pan-handling, but I will give food. When I went to Mcdonald's, I bought an extra double cheeseburger. Then when I was getting back onto the Interstate I handed it to him on the way past and told him I hope he finds his way home.
June 23, 2007
(for children) you could put chocolates in all your class mates' desks, with a note tapped to each chocolate saying; 'just a little something.'
July 10, 2007
I just happened upon your site, whilst seeking inspiration for good deeds on google. It has always been a hobby of mine and I think what you do here is just wonderful. I've never heard of Hal Reichle before, or your SSSSH!, but I'm exited and intend to start handing out your cards from now on, while trying to make other people smile. However, alot of the people I try to secretly cheer up won't be able to understand the cards, so I though I'd send you a translation of them in the proud language of Danish - hoping you'll put it on your site, so I an hopefully many of my fellow countrymen, can print them out here.
En god gerning, _______________________, er i det skjulte blevet givet til dig af en fremmed, et medlem af SSSH! (Secret Society of Serendipitous Service to Hal). Gå ind på www.hiram.edu/hal for at lære om SSSSH eller skriv til: SSSSH PO Box 375 Hiram, OH 44234. (vend) Du er modtager af en anonym god gerning, gjort i Hal Reichle's navn, en person der gjorde anonyme gerninger af godhed for fremmede. Hal blev student fra Hiram College, men blev dræbt i Golf krigen i 1991. Vi fortsætter hans anonyme-givende traditioner. Hav en dejlig dag.
July 12, 2007
I definitely do not want to abuse the purpose and rules of this great organisation. It is hard for me to approach you with a plea I rather would like to respond to myself. In short: I am an expatriate of a US company in Germany which now puts me in a position to relocate back to the US or loose my job. My family ties are here in Germany, children going to school, a modest, but good quality life where everyone thrives. My very hesitant question and request: If anyone can help me (competent, but 54 years of age (: find an employment of any kind in Southern Germany without having to leave the family in the cold - that would be of such great benefit I only love to return as well to others. We are living in the Ulm (Baden-Wuerttemberg) area, our e-mail address is "trutzschler@t-online.de".
July 22, 2007
We do take care about some criminal young people ( three at the moment) which have history of abuse and bad childhood themselfs.They do live here for about six month. Without their knowing we do take care that they get a job or good education and a place to live without fear. They don`t know that it`s us that did speek with their judges (who also want to help them )before (I was policedoctor and my husband is former policeofficer)and managed to arrange that they don`t have to go to prison but get a second chance to show they can live without being crimnal or violent. We are so proud to see the young people wondering how closed doors are opening for them and some of them managing to get back into a normal life.Anonymus we are able to do/arrange much more than in any official way. I do hope that we can go one like this for a long time. We think SSSH is a fantastic way to help in many ways.
August 20, 2007
I love SSSSH since i come across this web side my anonymous good deed ingrease. i want to be a member of ssssh pls send me tell membership requirement. I am from Nigeria.
August 26, 2007
I have always tried to do good deeds for others but I went to flight school with Hal and he was a good friend to me. We lost touch afterwards but I did know of his passing. It is great to see this tribute to a really good man.
August 28, 2007
I go with my church to go feed the homeless in Dallas every Saturday. I even made friends with them. There was Cowboy, Jim, Big Mama, Billy, Mary, Wendy and much more. But there was this one guy who got my attention, maybe because of the fact that he was over 6 feet tall. I saw that he only had sandels. I asked for his name, he said his name was John. I remember telling him, "You know what John I'm going to buy you some shoes. What size are you?" He looked at me with a smile on his face and said "I'm a size fifteen" And I did, I bought him some Nikes size 15.
I was hitchiking in on the M62-Liverpool England, when a Black ford focus pulled up and offered me a lift, and instead of dropping me off at the end of the motorway this man took me right to my house in Kirkby. He said He lives in Kirkby
I would LOVE to learn how to execute the 45 second car wash! You mentioned the crew is "trained" to do this task. Can someone provide me with the training outline if one exists? I have a group in mind who would really love to try this!!
Thanks! Jenn - Class of '95
I went to college with Hal at Hiram. While we were not really friends, we were friendly towards each other. We worked together in Miller Dining Hall at Hiram, washing dishes and pots and pans. I remember Hal always talking about his goal to become a pilot. Especially today, with the war in Iraq, we need to think about people like Hal, men and women that give everything to serve their country.
Hi, I am a sophomore at Boston College and our school, as a Jesuit Catholic University is filled with many many people doing service for other everyday. I came across this website and I think that what you are all about is a great thing. I was considering trying to start a club just like this at our school, but I found yours and was wondering if you would help me in starting a ssssh chapter at Boston College.
after reading about your secret society ~ i realized i have been a member all my life. for some it comes easy to just know what has to be done and do it ~ for others it is not so easy. i hope we can reach more of these people... last week as i was leaving campus for lunch, i noticed that a student who was getting around in a wheelchair dropped some books and papers in the middle of the street. he could only voluntarily move his upper body, so it was difficult for him to get out of the wheelchair and retrieve his stuff. i was shocked as two people walked right past him without bending down to help. i pulled my car up and blocked the intersection so we could gather his belongings quickly. in doing so, i noticed how badly worn his knapsack was. when i got back to the office, i called around to my sister colleges to find out who the student was. i located his home campus and sent a new knapsack to the dean of students office so they could get it to him. i will continue to check in throughout the semester to see what other things he might need.....
this is great!
I am a Hospice nurse who was having a particularly bad week. After losing three patients earlier in the week, it was now Friday and I had spent several hours the night before with my favorite patient and her family before she peacefully left this life. While driving to the office to complete paperwork, I went through the Tim Horton's drive-thru for a sandwich and diet coke. When I started to hand my money to the young man, he said the lady in front of me paid for my order. I was so pleasantly taken aback that I gave the young man my money and said, "Pass it on" and paid for the person behind me. I have no idea how much further this good deed went but I do know that I was able to smile the rest of the day simply because someone chose to perform one of these random acts of kindness and my spirit received a long overdue rejuvenation. Since that morning, I've made it a point to weekly pay for someone elses food order when I'm at a drive-thru.
December 26, 2007
I am working over seas in Kosovo as a US contractor for the US military. All of the women on my contract including myself, received a package of very nice Mary Kay products from an anonymous person in Cincinnati. This was lovely and it is so nice to know that someone you don't know is thinking of you when you are overseas... Your organization is beautiful!
:)
December 20, 2007
TRACE IS VOLUNTEERING ON CHRISTMAS.
October 14, 2007
I am so inspired by your society, I am featuring it on my blogsite www.justthewayitis.com, under the blog entitled "Kindness is Alive and Well." I'll send all of my readers to your site.
October 21, 2007
Paid for a strangers library fine
October 24, 2007
today on the bus to cincinnati, I gave the bus driver %1.25 and told her to give it to the last person who gets on the bus on the return tripp, so their fare would be paid
November 3, 2007
I was inspired to act on a SSSSH moment while out with my wife for dinner. I had recently finished reading Phil Keoghan's book "No Opportunity Wasted" and was amazed by the selfless acts that the Society had been involved in. I had excused myself to the restroom and upon returning, I saw an older couple that was out for an evening together. They appeared to be having a wonderful time together,
and I wanted to make their night even more unforgettable. When I returned to our table, I told my wife that we were going to buy their dinner for them. She looked at me like I was crazy (she hadn't read the book yet). When the waitress came past,I asked to pay their bill as well, and she of course looked at me like I was crazy.
Even though money was tight for us at the time, my wife and I felt so privileged to have the opportunity to make their evening more memorable. I will be sharing the
SSSSH concept with my church youth group (I won't share my story of course, then it wouldn't count), and challenge them to find creative ways to make a difference as well. :)
November 16, 2007
I made 12 dz. cookies and randomly but them on peoples steps around town. I tried to do this while the cookies were still warm, since it was snowing outside.
November 21, 2007
Hello, I am a TV-journalist from Hamburg and found a note about SSSSH in a german newspaper. I am asking if your acivities also take place in Germany, in Northern Germany? I would like to report about SSSSH and look for people in Germany who benefited of a good deed. Thanks for a short reply.
November 22, 2007
Before Hal became a helicopter pilot in the U.S. army, Hal also served as a U.S. Marine in a Dragon anti tank missile platoon, I know this because Hal was under my command. I was the platoon sergeant of this platoon. I remember Hal as a kind good fun loving person. I too have caught on to performing random acts of kindness, three years ago I had an accident at work and tore an acl in my knee, i was out for 15 months, i was & quot;counterattacked & quot; with random acts of kindness by a neighbor and friends. The grass would be cut, the snow plowed, the mail picked up and matters that I could not attend to were taken care of. Just when you think it is a bad world with bad people out there somebody & quot;REICHLES & quot; you restoring your faith in humanity. Last night I was able to help an old woman badly disabled back into her car after attending a funeral of her brother in law, my deceased father in law. She insisted on coming to be able to pay her respects, but her daughters were barely able to handle her I am still fairly strong at 52 and was able to get her in a very small car, it took some pushing and pulling but mission accomplished. I thought of Hal afterward and could almost see him grinning and thinking to himself "its working"
Sincerely, Gunnery Sergeant
November 22, 2007
I bought some sweets and gave them together with an explanation-card into baskets of some bicycles . I encouraged the benefit recipient to do so as well. Our village counts 5000 inhabitants. And the surprise came already back to me. Janne, Germany007
December 4, 2007
I saved my coins from change for one month. I then walked down a busy street and put coins in all the expired parking meters placing a SSSSH card under the windshield wiper. On the blank line on the card, I wrote Expired Meter.
December 16, 2007
I was at the pay window of McDonald's restaurant in my car. I asked the lady to allow me to pay for the food ordered from the person in the car behind me. I asked her to give them a SSSSH card which I handed her. She thought6 that was really nice.
December 20, 2007
I went into a gas station and waited until a older car arrived for gas. It was a mother with four kinds in a beat up car. As she pulled up to the pump, I walked up to her, placed my credit card in the credit card slot, gave her a SSSSH card, told her her gas was free today so she should fill up. I pushed the "no receipt" button as I walked away. The expression on her face was of great surprise.