Rossmoor Woman Marks Her 70th With Birthday Charity Challenge

ROSSMOOR, CA — A retired Los Alamitos High School counselor celebrated her 70th birthday not with cake and candles but with a birthday charity challenge, the Orange County Register reports.

Nona Rafferty of Rossmoor mailed 70 greeting cards to 70 people, all friends and family from across the country. Inside each card was a note, hand-written by Rafferty and a gift from the birthday girl herself: $70.

The catch? Rafferty asked that each person who received her card give the cash to someone in need, the Register reports. Rafferty asked to be sent each story instead of any material birthday gift.

Rafferty says that she was not interested in receiving presents. What Rafferty really wanted was to be a part of someone’s “feel-good moment.”

“I wasn’t doing it purely out of altruism,” Rafferty told the Register. “I wanted the stories.”

Rafferty did receive word back. Each of the 70 stories of charity was mailed back to her Rossmoor home, marked each year of the retired counselor’s life. The returned cards detailed the acts of kindness each recipient dealt out thanks to Rafferty’s request.

Some recipients donated to local charities. Others decided to use the funds to give directly to people in need. By the end of it all, Rafferty had dozens of "feel-good" stories to commemorate her 70 years of life.

Read the full account of this act of kindness on the OC Register.