By EMILY SCHENDEL

Random acts of kindness seem to come naturally to Julie Cairns of Richland Center. So when State Farm  presented her agency as well as the 19,000 other agents with an opportunity to complete 100 random acts of kindness as part of State Farms 100 year celebration and the 100 for Good challenge, Cairns was on board. 

“My husband told me ‘I feel like this isn’t going to change your way of doing things in life much, it’s just going to make you dial in more and notice the acts that you already do,” Cairns said. 

However, what she and the other agents in their office didn’t know is that those random acts of kindness would be able to lead to something far greater than they’d ever expect. 

“It’s in the giving, you receive,” Cairns noted of the experience. “We really had a great time doing it, we’d write thank you letters, bake cookies and deliver them to neighbors, buy strangers their coffee, give our customers a call just to check in and see how they’re doing. It’s been something we haven’t been able to ‘turn off’ at the office, we’ve really loved to do it.” 

And out of the thousands of agents, Cairns and her team were chosen to receive a $5,0000 grant for the organization of their choice.

“We had no idea!” Cairns said, “it was a total surprise that was awarded to the top 100 agents across the entire United States. I loved that they didn’t tell us because it made work to do the acts of kindness more natural. We did it because we wanted to, not for a prize.” 

The $5,000 grant from State Farm on the behalf of Cairns was presented to the Richland County United Givers. 

“We wanted to make sure we’d be able to touch as many lives as possible with the money,” Cairns explained “It’s an honor to present the check to the Richland County United Givers. I know this funding will help members of our community. Our community is better as a result of the dedicated work of the United Givers.”