Woman shares cards of kindness with travelers at Houston airport during pandemic

Woman hands out messages of kindness to masked-up travelers at Houston airport

An airport may be one of the last places people would expect to find random acts of kindness, but one frequent flyer is doing what she can to lift spirits.

Holding a handful of homemade happiness, Catharine Knight is hoping to change the world one kind word at a time.

"I just want somebody's day to be better," said Knight. "I really just want to make the world a better place."

While traveling for work, she's handing out cards to strangers at the Houston airport. Each card contains a message meant to shine a bit of light into these dark days.

Catharine Knight looks over cards she and her son created to hand out to travelers at the Houston airport. CBS News

"You have to wear a mask so you can't see somebody smile or if they're sad," said Knight. "So if you watch somebody's eyes, you can kind of determine maybe that person needs a little pick-me-up."

"People need to know that there's still kindness in this world," she added.

But in the age of COVID-19, you can't blame Heidi Botkin for being a little skeptical, until the message sunk in.

"I was super stressed out when I get the three kids by myself," said Botkin. "So, yeah, that was a nice little pick-me-up."

This random act of kindness project started three years ago. Knight and her son Parker write uplifting messages for people they've never met and may never see again. More than 25,000 have been written so far, including one for pilot Michael Jones.

"It helped, you know, I think everybody's having their own personal struggles right now," said Jones.

At a time when we have to stay apart, this is a small reminder that we're all still in this together.

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