Skip to main content

Woman anonymously hides cash envelopes to spark kindness

KY: SMALL ENVELOPES SPARK CHAIN OF KINDNESS

Click here for updates on this story

    NICHOLASVILLE, Kentucky (WLEX) — A Nicholasville woman who asked to remain anonymous is hiding envelopes of cash in public places around the city, hoping each one sparks a chain reaction of kindness.

She said the effort grew out of a period of personal hardship and prayer.

“I’ve been praying for a blessing, you know. Life has been difficult for us over the past few years for many reasons and I just, I pray all the time regardless, but I have been praying for God to show us blessings in many ways,” she said.

She went to the bank, withdrew cash, bought a stack of cards and left the first one inside a Kroger.

“So on the first card, I actually put that the only thing I wanted that person to do was to also be kind to somebody else,” she said.

The woman who found that card later commented on her Facebook page.

“I wanted it to go to someone who truly needed it and she was a mother that had been dealing with health issues and she had been praying because she didn’t know how she was gonna pay her bills for the month,” she said.

The effort spread to her daughter, who also hid a card with money. The couple who found that envelope was expecting a baby and had been trying to afford a specific car seat.

“The car seat that they wanted, they were a little short on and so they were back there looking and they saw this envelope and they found the $40. The difference between the car seat that they returned and the car seat they needed was $40,” she said.

She said she never intended for any of this to become public.

“You know, I was raised in church and coming from that type of a background, anytime you help someone, you don’t wanna brag about it. And I didn’t do this to get public recognition. I didn’t want a pat on the back,” she said.

She plans to keep leaving the surprise envelopes around Nicholasville.

“I hope that this not only helps someone. I hope it creates a ripple effect,” she said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Suspect in Berlin ramming attack shot and killed by police, authorities say

The suspect sought in connection with a car ramming attack on a Berlin LGBTQ+ Pride parade that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed in a confrontation with police, a senior police official in Germany told CBS News.The official said the suspect charged towards police with a knife and police opened fire, shooting the suspect. The Associated Press, citing police, said the confrontation happened Sunday in a suburb of the city.Germany's interior minister identified the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots. Authorities believe he may have been motivated by Islamist extremist ideology and sought to join the Islamic State group.Police described him as being part of Berlin's "Islamist scene" and someone who is known to authorities."Everything we see here points to us dealing with an Islamic terror attack," Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Sunday.Dobrindt said Ballout was born in Germany and that his mother was naturalized in 2002, three years before he was born. He said the suspect had been convicted in Berlin in the past.Berlin prosecutors said Ballout shared ISIS propaganda on Instagram in 2024 and the following year traveled to Lebanon "with the intention of proceeding from there to Syria to join ISIS." However, he was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison. He returned to Germany in November 2025 and he was arrested in May for "preparing a serious act of subversive violence," prosecutors said.He was sentenced to a year and ten months in jail, but this was suspended, partially in recognition of the time he had spent in jail in Lebanon and pre-trial detention, and partially because he admitted to the crimes and distanced himself from ISIS, prosecutors said.Police said they believe Ballout rented the vehicle used in the attack but it is unclear if he was the driver. He was described as being of slim build, about 6 feet 3 inches tall, with black hair and wearing a black hoodie with white pants.Police searched an apartment in Berlin's Schöneberg district early Sunday, but said they found no one there. The suspect's heavily damaged vehicle remained at the site of the attack on Sunday morning. Police officers stand near a vehicle crashed into a tree after driving into a crowd near Berlin's annual Pride event, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, July 26, 2026.  Markus Schreiber via AP Authorities are also working to determine if he acted alone. Investigators believe that one or more people may have left the vehicle after it came to a stop. Some victims also suffered stab wounds, raising the possibility that others were involved in the attack, but authorities have not confirmed that. Dobrindt said the suspect is believed to have injured people with a machete.A man with Iranian citizenship was arrested, but police have not confirmed any involvement in the attack.Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed that law enforcement would find the suspect."I would like to say this to Christopher Street Day participants here in Berlin but also across Germany: Don't let yourselves, let us not let ourselves, be intimidated," he said Sunday. "These acts have only one purpose: They aim to divide our society. They want to take away from us the most important thing we have: Namely our openness and our freedom."Berlin's fire service said that of the injured, three have life-threatening injuries, eight were seriously injured, and five had slight injuries. Police have not identified the deceased victim. Bouquets, candles and Berlin bears are placed in front of the landmark Brandenburg Gate one day after the car ramming attack on people on the outskirts of Berlin's Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade on late July 25, 2026.
Read Next Story