Woman on receiving end of good deed: 'I couldn't believe it'

It's said no good deed goes unpunished. And in today's world of social media, good deeds rarely go undocumented.

Carol Flynn had no idea that her spur-of-the-moment generosity to a young stranger Sunday night would hit the Internet and go viral.

She just wanted to help someone else, Flynn says, and she never noticed that the man behind her in the Walmart checkout lane had switched over from perusing Facebook to recording her actions.

Jason Yoshino, a local wedding entertainer, posted the video on his Facebook page Sunday night. The clip shows Flynn buying three large packages of Pampers diapers for a young woman. As of Monday afternoon, the video had been "liked" by more than 4,000 people and shared more than 1,000 times.

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Flynn was unaware of this until she picked up her phone Monday and was asked about the incident. She didn't do it to receive pats on the back, she says.

She did it because it was just something that needed to be done.

"You can't take it with you," Flynn says of the $120 she spent on diapers for an unknown baby. "I just think we should do things like that. That's kind of my thinking."

Flynn has followed the pay-it-forward philosophy several times in the past but on a much smaller scale, such as paying for the meal of the person in the car behind her at a fast-food restaurant. Even then, she jokes, she made sure the vehicle didn't hold 10 people.

Truly, though, her generosity tops even her self-deprecating humor. When 73-year-old Flynn, a retired March of Dimes state director, walked into the Walmart on South Louise Avenue in Sioux Falls, she had no idea what the evening would hold.

After selecting supplies for her cat and a blouse for herself, Flynn directed her cart to a checkout lane. But it wasn't moving, so she wandered off for a bit.

When she returned, the same customer still was in line. Now, however, instead of purchasing four 148-count packages of diapers, she was down to one box. Apparently, the low price being offered by another store would not be matched for all four boxes.

The young woman had nothing else in her cart, Flynn says. She wanted only the diapers.

Yoshino's video shows Flynn taking the last of the three boxes from a discarded cart and putting it on the checkout lane. She then produces a credit card and instructs the checker to ring up the boxes on it. Flynn and the woman talk for a bit, and they leave after Flynn puts a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"I couldn't believe it. I was shocked. I kept saying thank you and God bless you," says Katie Kanefke, the stay-at-home mom on the receiving end of Flynn's generosity.

Kanefke and her husband Jimmy support their 4-month-old son Marcus on a single income, so they need to stick to their monthly budget. When a friend told Kanefke about the price-match deal, she thought it would be a small financial break for them.

She learned at the register that the match applied only to the first box. Every little bit helps, she thought, as she set aside the other three boxes. Then, enter Flynn, who asked nothing other than Kanefke pay it forward and someday do the same for someone else.

"Then I walked out in the parking lot and started crying. It just hit me. It was an awesome statement of what God's love does," says Kanefke.

Some commentators let their cynicism out, suggesting Flynn's credit card was stolen or the young woman should have made purchasing choices that would put her baby first. Yoshino doesn't see it that way. Instead, he took heart in the positivity he saw displayed right in front of him.

"Me and my wife were stunned," he says. "You hear about those things, but you don't see them in real life."

As a Christian, he says, he believes he was put on Earth to help others. Flynn, a member of First United Methodist Church, shares a similar view. She has come to realize, the six-year cancer survivor says, there are many things that can be done to help others.

"My life is not moving as fast as it used to," she says. "I used to get in line and be impatient if I had to wait. When you get older, you slow down and take a look at what's around us."

Being recorded in the midst of a good deed can be disconcerting, Flynn says. In today's society, where it seems as if everyone can record with their cell phone, you need to be prepared, Yoshino says.

"Everybody has a camera phone, and they're recording everything," he says. "(Still), you don't see something like that every day in life. It definitely touched a chord with me. I always try to inspire others, and I'm a huge advocate of uplifting and changing the world. I'll never forget it, to be honest with you."

Kanefke says the exchange not only offered some financial relief, but it also restored her faith in people. And she definitely plans to pay it forward.

"If you ever needed a sign or act that shows God cares for his people and provides for them," says Kanefke, "this is it."

Reach Jill Callison at 331-2307 or jcalliso@argusleader.com.