NORFOLK, Va. - You’ll often find Norfolk resident Kandi Philipp hanging clothes on her crêpe myrtle tree on the sidewalk in front of her Bayview home.
Kandi Philipp receives her People Taking Action award
Not because she has unusual outdoor decorating taste, but because she wants people to come by and take what they need.
Her neighbors love the idea.
“I saw five items hanging from a tree, and each item had a cute little note."
She calls it the "giving tree" - giving to those in need in her own neighborhood.
“There’s a lot of working people who are just putting gas in their car and food on the table and just get through the week.”
How cute is that?
Sometimes she buys things at thrift stores; other times she’ll buy things that are new and on sale.
We aired a story on Kandi’s giving tree last week, and we didn’t want her good deeds to go unrewarded.
She was expecting me, but she didn’t know anything about a camera or an award.
People Taking Action: Surprising 'The Queen Mother' with a People Taking Action Award!
In addition to our People Taking Action award, we gifted Kandi with a $300 Visa gift card from our community partner, Southern Bank.
Always in the giving spirit, Kandi told us she's going to pay it forward. We asked her what she was going to do with it.
"I don’t know, but I’m going to help someone - some people or some animals with it.”
Kandi goes through all the trouble of making things look nice and putting them on the tree, so we asked her about her motivation for her kind act.
“Because they can just put them right on and wear them," she told us.
And they don’t have to pay for them.
“Sometimes they can’t afford $4.99 for a pair of jeans for their kids, even at the Salvation Army," Kandi said.
She was very appreciative.
“Thank you so much for this; this is a surprise."
Do you know someone who's worthy of a People Taking Action award? Click here to nominate them!
