Jody Dugas recalls the days when she and her husband Dave would have the kids in the back seat of the car going through a drive-thru.
Her son Noah and daughter Jorja loved it when they would randomly decide to pay for a coffee for the vehicle behind them.
"When they were younger we would find so much joy when we would pay for the person behind us and I just remember as kids them looking back and would just be so happy we did something nice for somebody so I just kind of remembered that so I thought that would be a nice way to start your day," recalls Dugas.
Meagan Twigg, of Twiggs Coffee Roasters in North Bay, says random acts of kindness like this can be contagious.
"From a staff perspective, most of us are shocked when it happens and the person that receives it typically says, 'I don't know that person,' and we have to tell them they are just doing it out of kindness or they want to do it, then most of the people drive away smiling," Twigg says about people buying strangers a coffee at the Drive Thru.
"Typically it rolls over to the next car, the next car and the next car. Sometimes we have seen it go on for an hour."
Jody Dugas, who represents the NoahStrong Foundation, and Twiggs Coffee Roasters in North Bay have teamed up to offer random acts of kindness. Starting next Monday, February 12, Twiggs will be offering a free coffee with every coffee purchase. That free coffee will come with a "I am Kind. Spread the Love" NoahStrong sticker on the Twiggs coffee cup.
Meagan Twigg says they were approached about the idea about six months ago.
"We had an instant reaction of yes, and we are happy to help out in the community in any way. I think at the end of the day bringing awareness and kindness along with giving someone a cup of coffee just kind of goes hand in hand," said Twigg.
"I hope it brings awareness to the whole NoahStrong campaign itself, we love to see more Twiggs cups in the community so that is great."
Dugas' family created the NoahStrong Foundation to honour and recognize the passing of their 13-year-old son Noah. The young hockey player suffered from a stroke in the summer of 2020, and passed away in November of that year.
"We thought we would go with Noah's affirmations, 'I am Kind,' so we thought what could we do to promote kindness so we partnered with Twiggs because they are great partners so we thought of doing the free coffee," explained Dugas.
"It is just promoting acts of kindness in our community too. It does not have to be monetary, it can just be 'please' and 'thank you;' smile at somebody or just to something kind so we thought a week of February during Valentine's why don't we promote kindness and love and spread more in our community."
The Twiggs-NoahStrong Kindness in a Cup campaign will take place at all three Twiggs locations in North Bay from February 12 to 18.
Meagan Twigg is excited to share the kindness next week.
"I think it puts a smile on everyone's face," she said.
