Photos: 25 Kind Acts for 25th Birthday

Goose Creek native Kelly Amell celebrated her 25th birthday with 25 random acts of kindness. The gifts included cookies for her mail carrier, messages left for strangers and donations for needy organizations.

A law student at Wake Forest University, the Stratford High grad told ABC News 4 that this was about giving back to others. 

"I wanted to make other people's day great on a day that was special to me."

Amell told Patch that there were some truly random moments. In one instance, a man approached her asking for cash.

"Instead I drove across the street and bought him Bojangles," she said. "Then we talked about his life and how he got where he was. He ended up giving me his grandmother's phone number, and told me to check in on him every once in a while."

Amell gave Patch a photo diary of her 25 random acts of kindness. There's likely a 26th random act that Amell hasn't accounted for: inspiring others.

Kelly Amell's 25 Random Acts of Kindness:

1. Returned carts from the parking lot back into the store.
2. Left a wonderful waiter a 75 percent tip.
3. Sent a dessert to a stranger's table at a restaurant.
4. Secretly bought a round of drinks for some of your favorite people.
5. Paid for the person's Starbucks in the drive thru behind you.
6. Sent your best friends a card just because.
7. Donated coloring books and crayons to the pediatric wing of a hospital. 
8. Hid dollar bills in the toy aisle at the dollar store.
9. Donated food to the local animal shelter.
10. Donated canned goods to the local soup kitchen.
11. Bought a homeless man a meal.
12. Took cookies to local firemen.
13. Left a special treat for the mail lady.
14. Left a surprise for the law students I mentor in their mailboxes at the school.
15. Left a dollar on a drink machine.
16. Donated school supplies to a local after school tutoring program for children from low income families.
17. Put money in an expired parking meter.
18. Made team posters for a youth basketball league.
19. Put positive sticky notes on mirrors wherever I went. Notes that said things like "Your are important" and "You are beautiful."
20. Left wipes and disposable diaper bags on a public baby changing table.
21. Put inspirational post-it notes in books at a bookstore. Notes that said "Do what make YOU happy" and "Love IS possible."
22. Placed flowers on graves that don't have any at a cemetery.
23. Donated 10 jackets to a coat drive.
24. Bought my pals a traditional Southern party favor for coming to my birthday dinner.
25. Delivered sunflowers to the beautiful ladies in the Alzheimer's ward of an assisted living home, Southfork Assisted Living in Winston-Salem, N.C.