It is difficult to count the number of people that we come in contact with on a daily basis. In some cases, we may come in contact with them directly but at other times, it may be a little more subtle. In either case, however, we do have the opportunity to impact somebody’s life on almost an ongoing basis and when we have the option to do so, we should never keep ourselves from doing it. That is what Denny Kukich did when he saw the opportunity to impact somebody’s life on a recent flight.
Denny was busy boarding the plane and had just put his carry-on suitcase into the overhead luggage compartment. He had a reserved seat and began to settle in. There were many things that he could’ve done while he was on the flight, and he even contemplated the possibility of taking a nap while they were in the air. What ended up happening, however, was something quite different.
Just before the plane took off, a group of soldiers came on board and sat down in the vacant seats around Denny. He decided that he would strike up a conversation with a soldier who was seated close to him.
“Where are you headed?”
The soldier said that the entire crew was going to Petawawa and will be involved with special training for two weeks. At that point, they would be deployed to Afghanistan.
About one hour into the flight, a flight attendant made the announcement that sack lunches were available for five dollars. Denny purchased a meal because there were still a few hours left in the flight. He overheard one of the soldiers talk to another troop mate who was buying lunch. They were probably hungry but he said no.
“That seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to base.”
Denny realized that none of the soldiers were shelling out the five dollars for a sack lunch. He decided to do something about it and posted information about the experience on a popular Facebook page.
The soldiers protected his freedom and they sacrificed their lives to fight overseas. It would be a small thing to purchase a sack lunch so they had some food on their long flight to training. He handed the flight attendant $50 and told her to give them all a sack lunch.
“She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq; it’s almost like you are doing it for him.'”
10 sacks were loaded up with the flight attendant and she handed them out to the soldiers. She stopped by Denny’s seat and asked if he wanted beef or chicken. He replied chicken and she came out with a first-class dinner plate for him.
That was only the beginning of the chain of generosity. Denny headed for the restroom later and a stranger stopped him.
“‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me $25.”
Denny was shocked with the offer and he returned to his seat saw that the flight captain was walking his direction. He shook Danny’s hand and thanked him for what he did for the soldiers.
“I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.”
Suddenly, the plane was applauding him for his kind deed. He was walking down the aisle later to stretch his legs and someone else shook his hand, giving him $25 in the process.
When the plane landed, another passenger came up and gave him an additional $25.
“Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them $75. ‘It will take you some time to reach the base… It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'”
Danny walked to his car and was very happy with the kind deed that he just shared with those 10 soldiers. We’re glad that he shared it on Facebook so we can all learn from his kindness.