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
|
CNN News Response Letters
01/14/04
Dear Roger,
I think that some people do things like this occasionally, and that others would if they realized they could. I accidently performed a Reichle, and forgot about it until I read some of the ones others performed. I was at a gas station filling up my Buick, and noticed a man and woman sitting in a car off to the side of the pumps. The man saw me looking at them and got out of the car and came over to me. He told me they were on their way home, which was an 8 hour drive and asked me if I could spare a few dollars for gas. He looked a little shakey, and my first thought was, "yeah, you probably do this all the time," but something told me to do it. I told the cashier to put their tank of gas on my card, but not to give them a receipt with my name on it, not because I was anonymous, but because I was afraid. Then when I was getting ready to pull out, I thought, "gosh, if they don't have money for gas, then they probably won't be eating for 8 hours either," so I gave the man $20 for food. He begged me to give him my name and address so he could repay me, but I didn't, this time not because I was afraid, but because he actually wanted to repay me. I got my payment, but it was in showers of blessings in my soul. I've never told anyone about this, but I thought that it might encourage someone else to take that first step. I love putting Hal's name to these types of deeds! It gives them some sort of extra special meaning. Bless you, too, Roger for spreading the ideas. My daughter goes to Hiram and will graduate this year, and her sister heard the receipient of the Scholarship on TV this morning and called me and gave me the web site.
01/14/04
Hello. I learned of your organization today by watching television (CNN) and heard your story. I want to commend you for your wonderful work. May it continue.......L.Zinn
01/14/04
Saw you on CNN this morning...always good to start the day out with a crying session!! Please send me whatever info you have. I want to spread the word. And even though he didn't have a sneaker named after him, I WANT TO BE LIKE HAL!!!
01/14/04
This is not a good deed message, although my husband and I have spent many years helping people without their knowledge; we get such great joy! I wanted you to know I am going to put a nice link on my husband's web site. He was a Marine door gunner in Vietnam and all Marines are brothers so this is dear to his heart. My husband is a Vietnam War folk artist now. You can see his web site at: http://www.aurence.net. Thank you and keep giving! Septembr Fi!
01/14/04
It's interesting how deeds spread. Three sailors were at a bank machine in front of me near thr Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The machine was not cooperative and they remarked "sounds like a beer and hot dog". I told them the manager of restaurant in the Hotel (a very popular downtown location) had been talking about the ship being in port and had said he would treat the first group to come in. (a lie) We walked a couple of blocks to the hotel and I offered to go and find the manager. I asked for their bill to be put on my room and left the excited sailors as they discussed the outstanding menu. My suprise came when I got a bill that only had desert charges with a note from the manager thanking me for the idea.
01/14/04
I have for years been an unknowing member of your group. One of the most memorable actually backfired. I was waiting to board a flight when I noticed a group of freshly shaved young men all carrying marine duffels bags. They were visibly nervous and I figured headed for basic training so when I got on I asked the stewardess if I could anonymously buy them a beer and thank them for their service. The stewardess came back and apologetically said she would need the cash in advance which I gave her (100.00). She came back misty-eyed saying she had never seen anything like it. As I was leaving the plane the flight crew all shook my hand and said I had change coming, but the stewardess was on the ramp with it. As I approached her she gave me the change and behind her were the soldiers who saluted me. My turn to get misty- eyed.
01/14/04
While killing time before class, I caught the very end of a CNN segment about your organization. What a great guy Hal was, and how wonderful it is that you friends have continued his wiley ways. In about 2 months I'll be giving a talk on "Love in Action" to a group of college students. Hopefully this starts them on a lifetime of secret service. Thank You!
01/14/04
Wow! There is actually a website for this stuff? Cool! I love doing stuff for people on the sly. On more than one occasion, at a restaurant I frequented, I paid for strangers' meals. The odd look the waitresses gave me when I asked for another table's check was amusing and it gave them a sense of being part of what I was doing by keeping it a secret. The odd thing is that I spoke to a girl about Christ at same restaurant, and she mentioned an event where some lady had come in, paid for a table's meal and left without giving her name. She said that lady looked like an angel. She didn't realize that she was speaking to that "angel." That just did my heart good because I knew then that I had pulled it off successfully.
January 14, 2004
Just saw Roger on CNN and did a Google search on Hal Reichle and found your site.
An easy and FREE good deed idea for adults and kids alike: While walking in your neighborhood and you see 2 or more newspapers in a driveway, it's a good chance the owners are away and haven't suspended their paper service. Since burglars notice this sort of thing, collect the papers and stash them near the mailbox, out of site of a casual driveby but easily found by the returning neighbors.
The only difference now is I'll leave a Reichle card in the mailbox! Thanks for your service.
01/14/04
My wife and I were fed up with the madness of Xmas commercialism. This past year we asked our three grown children if they would join us in something new. We all would not buy gifts for each other, but instead, pool the money we would have spent. It amounted to 350 dollars. The next step was contacting a local school teacher and have her advise us of a particular family in need. The school teacher presented the money to the mother of the needy family a week before Xmas and the mother was surprised to the point of tears. No identification of donor or recipient was involved but the teacher was necessary to make it all come together. We informed our children of all that had taken place so that they might enjoy the magic that comes with the Xmas season. I don't know who came out better...the recipient or our family.
Perhaps others might use this idea to enrich their holiday season.
01/14/04
This is a truly wonderful program. I am extremely happy and grateful that such activities exists. I hope to see that it never ends and that more Americans will partake in such humanitarian acts. This is a great story that has touched my heart on a truly difficult day. Thank You!
Keep up this extraordinary work.
01/14/04
Dear Roger,
Caught you on CNN this morning and can't begin to tell you how impressed I was. I'd like you to take my email address and phone number if I can be of any help in spreading SSSSH in Canada or elsewhere for you. It would be a cause I could devote time to. Frankly I have undertaken Secret Missions of the same variety myself over the past few decades...as my father did many years ago...and so was thrilled to discover that acts of kindness have gone mainstream!!! Amk committing your web site to Favorites and will notify local press of you.
Kindest Regards
Sharon
Toronto, CANADA
01/14/04
Before Christmas, my wife and I went to the local post office and asked them to give us any letters to "Santa Clause" that they would normally discard. We would read the letters and focus on any child asking for something for a brother or sister. We wanted to grant the unselfish request of children. "Santa Clause" would mail them a letter and the present they requested for their sibling.
01/14/04
Roger, I just saw your segment on CNN. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for bringing this kind of goodness into the world in the name of one so deserving, especially at this time in history. This is truly an inspiration to us all. I am going to include this as part of my life.
01/14/04
Hello, this is just a quick message to Roger. I met Hal in Japan while he was a Hiram student. We became good friends until he joined the military and was married. I think of him so often, and I just want to thank you for all your hard work in keeping Hal's memory alive among so many people. Somewhere, tucked away, I have some pictures of Hal if you ever need any more. I had a Halloween party in Japan, and of course Hal came as a Marine, LOL. I met his mother at the service held at Hiram, and she asked for my phone number to call me. I never got a call from her... then read in the paper she had passed away. Please let me know if you need any help with this project-- I'm a web designer now, but I could also do any sort of other job you might need help with.
01/15/04
Went out with my shove, and high spirits tonight. It was my first time doing this and my heart was really thumping. I had found this site a few months earlier and decided that I would wait until the snow fell to start pulling em. I shoveld some "random" persons driveway after noticing that there car was gone, moving quickly and silently and expertly discarded of the snow from the driveway. All went well
-Anon Snow Removal