Christopher’s random acts of kindness raise a smile

Eleven-year-old hands out water, chocolates and flowers to ‘cheer people up’

A NEWBURY mother has said she is incredibly proud of her son’s random act of kindness gestures since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Vikki Jordaan has been blown away by the praise her son Christopher has been receiving as a result of his good deeds every week.

When the first lockdown began, in March 2020, Christopher started off by buying bottles of water and bars of chocolate for people outside Tesco, in Pinchington Lane, while they waited in line to go into the shop.

From there, the 11-year-old – who is autistic and has ADHD – then started buying flowers in order to do his good deed for the day.

Mrs Jordaan said: “It’s gone from that and buying them stuff like chocolate, to also buying the person on the till something to say thank you for what you do.

“He wanted to do this random act of kindness by giving somebody, whoever that may be, a bunch of flowers.”

It’s been a difficult year for everyone with the ongoing pandemic, but Mrs Jordaan hopes that Christopher’s act of kindness is helping in some way.

“Everyone has been finding it very hard,” she said. “We have gone through months and months of shielding our daughter, shutting out hospice nurses and not letting anyone come in the house.”

Mrs Jordaan’s daughter Alicia, aged 13, is quadriplegic, has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and requires 24-hour care.

“We have been extremely careful and it’s been very hard ourselves, but you also don’t know how other people’s mental health is and maybe one of these people he has done something to has been having a really hard time,” said Mrs Jordaan.

“A bunch of flowers might give them a bit of a lift.”

Members of the public have taken to social media to thank Christopher for his acts of kindness and Mrs Jordaan has been taken aback by how people have reacted.

She said: “We have had a couple of people cry in front of us and then I almost feel like crying, but it’s just something small that he likes to do.

“I never thought it would be anything huge.

“He does it once a week and some people have been putting it on Facebook.

“It brightens up someone’s day and it brightens up ours too.”

Rebecca Jeffries, whose daughter received some flowers from Christopher outside the Tesco in London Road, said: “I got into the car first and then my daughter did with flowers and she told me what happened.

“Throughout the lockdown, he has been doing stuff like this to try and cheer people up and my daughter was in complete shock.

“I have spoken to his mother about it all and I think it’s really sweet.”