Through Random Acts of Kindness, our TMS team members do good in their communities

Our mission at TMS is to help Grow Happiness. Why? It started with simply wanting to help grow happiness for our borrowers by getting them into their happy homes. But over the last 20 years, it’s grown into a mantra for every one of us who works at TMS. We believe that by helping grow happiness in others, we help grow happiness in ourselves.

So, in celebration of our 20th Anniversary in January 2018, we assembled our Happiness Crew – all 700+ TMS team members – gave each of them a $20 gift card, and asked them to hit the streets and carry out Random Acts of Kindness. This initiative was such a success, we’ve continued to give gift cards to each of our new team members when they start!

“One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness; it usually comes back to you.”

– Anonymous

Our TMS team members did everything from buying gas to making charitable donations and helped Grow Happiness.

Tips in Tempe

Six team members went to Philly’s Sports Bar and Grill (their favorite lunch spot), put their TMS gift cards together and left a $120 tip to be split between all the servers in the restaurant. TMS team members pictured: Jeff Casey, Migonne Davis, Eric Getty, Mark Kogut, Becky Stahlecker, and Joe Weigel

Out of gas

Our TMS Customer Care Representative Chelsey Hacker said, “To help Grow Happiness within my community, I connected with my cousin Diele, who also works at TMS. We were driving near our home when we noticed this woman’s sign saying she needed money for gas. Her name is Marcella and has been very down on her luck. She was with her 64-year-old mother and they were braving the Arizona heat before Hurricane Rosa’s flash flooding here in The Valley. We were blessed to provide her $20 on behalf of TMS to help her find shelter before the storm hit.”

Coffee makes the world go ‘round

TMS VP of Regulatory Compliance Barbara Flores purchased coffee for Fire/Medical dispatchers who helped during the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa. At least 22 lives and nearly 5,000 homes were lost, and this dedicated crew was there through it all.

TMS Marketing Assistant Ella Waechter also went the “coffee route” and paid for 5 customers at Starbucks. “People kept asking why I wanted to buy their coffee for them. They were like ‘Why would you do that? You never see that anymore.’ Society doesn’t feel like people do nice things anymore. It’s a reminder of how you should live your life. You don’t have to do things that cost money, but just doing nice things for people.” Ella mentioned that when she was at Starbucks, someone held the door open for her, and she in turn bought his coffee. Kindness is contagious!

Drive-thru donation

TMS Development Coordinator Evan Neill followed suit by using his gift card to buy someone dinner. “I was on my way home when my wife called and asked if I could pick up Taco Bell for dinner. Once I was at the restaurant, I got to talking with the young lady in the drive-thru, and I had an idea. I asked her to take my $20 card to use for the next person that comes through the drive-thru. I told her the amount on the card and said she could use it all at once or spread it out over many people’s orders. She looked a little confused and asked me why I would do that. I simply told her that she and I were helping grow happiness that night.”

International house of happiness

Another TMS Development Coordinator Julie Butler saw her kindness spread, firsthand. “My husband and I went out to breakfast on Saturday morning, to our local IHOP. While we were enjoying our breakfast, I noticed a young mother with her daughter also having breakfast in a booth nearby. After a few minutes, I approached and explained I worked at TMS, and I told her a little bit about our company and what we did. I asked if I could buy their breakfast as part of our helping Grow Happiness initiative. She accepted, and explained that she and her middle daughter were having their Mother/Daughter day. She liked to have a special day, once a month, with just one of her daughters at a time. On their special day, they would have breakfast and then go shopping or whatever else to make their memory of the day. She was overjoyed at receiving her $20 TMS gift card, and her 7 ½-year-old daughter shyly thanked me (without prompting!). As I returned to my seat, the daughter asked her mom what helping ‘Grow Happiness’ meant. Her mom explained that it’s like a ‘pay it forward’ program. They had quite the discussion about the concept, what it meant, and how good it felt to give. The last I overheard of the discussion was the daughter talking about how they would help ‘Grow Happiness’ too.”

Gift of groceries

TMS Account Manager Katrina Castillo and FHA/Conventional Underwriter Julie Munoz pooled their money to help purchase groceries for several customers.

If it’s unexpected, it’s random

“Random” doesn’t necessarily have to mean doing something nice for a stranger, either. Our TMS Manager of Licensing and Exam Management Andrew Hall donated the $20 TMS gift card to his 35-year-old cousin who is fighting breast cancer. You may know of someone who is struggling, or just want to brighten a loved one’s day.

How you can help Grow Happiness

So, are you ready to help Grow Happiness? There are plenty of things you can do! Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Volunteer at a shelter or organization
• Buy items for other customers in line
• Offer to help a coworker who is struggling with their workload
• Let someone ahead of you in traffic
• Give hugs

Remember, acts don’t need to cost money and they don’t need to involve grand gestures. Think of all the things that might make your day better and go from there!

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.”

-Dalai Lama