'Random act of kindness' surprises shopping mom

• Stranger left $20 gift card in Albright's shopping cart
• Act was in honor of 6-year-old victim of Newtown, Conn., shootings
• Albright and her son paid the kindness forward by donating a gift basket to a local deli

It was just another mundane morning on Tuesday when Kristen Albright walked into a local Target store. But then she noticed something in her red shopping basket: a white envelope.

"Please open," it read. "This is for you."

"I thought of bringing it to customer service. Maybe someone left it behind," the 29-year-old Cranbury resident said.

"It was not totally sealed, so I opened it. I was frozen."

Inside was a $20 Target gift card attached to a holiday card, which read: "Random acts of kindness — you are No. 8 of 26.

"In memory of Catherine Hubbard (age 6) (victim of Connecticut shootings).

"Please pay it forward."

Albright wasn't alone.

The gift card was part of a national campaign calling for "26 acts of kindness" — one for each of the victims of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting last week.

The movement is being fueled by social media, with people posting on Facebook and Twitter examples of such acts.

The campaign might have been launched by NBC News anchor Ann Curry this week when she tweeted: "Imagine if everyone could commit to doing one act of kindness for every one of those children killed in Newtown."

Since then, countless people around the country have been receiving anonymous gifts — and paying it forward.

Albright didn't use her gift card — a choice her 11-year-old son found puzzling at first.

But then he suggested that his mother leave the card with a clerk at the bank they visited.

"Maybe she or someone she knows needs it more than me," Albright said.

Albright said her son had to be excused from school on Monday for a stomach ache, although she thinks he probably was bothered by news from Connecticut.

On Friday, she had him take a gift basket to the workers at the local deli where they sometimes buy sandwiches — their second act of kindness this week.

"Maybe it makes him feel better that he is actually doing something positive," she said.

Albright wonders if people will stick with the random acts well after Christmas.

"I mean, wouldn't it be great to do it after the holidays when people aren't expecting it," she said.