An Act of Random Kindness (ARK for Short)

Clipped to the back cover of her order pad for over two years, Karla Martinez has kept a yellowed business card left by a banker and his wife at the popular Ostra restaurant in the Mokara Hotel on the River Walk where she works, as a token of an ARK… otherwise known as an Act of Random Kindness.

Coincidence? Or Fate?

Photo: mommygearest.com

To this day, the symbol can still bring a tear to the single mom’s eye as she recounts why it was given to her in 2014. On a quiet day at the restaurant, Martinez was able to find time to have conversations with the patrons. She mentioned to one of the couples that were there that her son was enrolled at Texas A&M. Pascal and Joyce Hosch (the couple in question) were in town to celebrate Mrs. Hosch’s birthday, and continued the conversation, noting they both held degrees from that particular alma mater. They had been wanting to do something to give back to their school and before they left the restaurant, had decided that they would buy a class ring for Karla Martinez’s son, Christian Alcoser.

True To Their Word

Photo: mysanantonio.com

Christian was in his freshman year at A&M when the Hosches made the offer to his mother, and although she had told him about the gesture, neither of them had taken it to be serious. They told her of their plan, asked for her son’s name, and gave her Pascal’s business card with both their names and graduation dates inscribed. Over the course of the past two years, they checked on Alcoser through the school’s Former Students Association to see when he would have enough hours to make him eligible to order the ring. He accomplished this after this past fall semester.

Giving Back

Photo: tamiu.edu

The Hosches have never met Alcoser, and have not seen Karla since giving her the business card. They simply wanted to give back to their school, and the school of choice for their two children (also Aggie graduates) and found that, for them, the best way to do so was to buy a ring for a graduating student. They plan to continue the gesture annually for a student that cannot afford their ring, starting with quietly making the purchase and having the student informed via email, as with Alcoser.

Paying It Forward

Photo: blog.larryfieldphotography.com

In April, Karla Martinez was present on Ring Day at Texas A&M-College Station to slip the $1,000 gold ring onto her son’s finger, thanks to the generosity of the Hosches. Alcoser had been speaking with his mom earlier in the school year about getting a summer job in order to make the purchase himself this coming fall, but now he is already thinking of ways that he can “pay it forward”, as it were, while he considers his law school options ahead. He has since sent the Hosches a thank-you note, and his mother, who continues to be overwhelmed by their kindness, hopes to find a way herself to express her true gratitude.