Spreading kindness, Vanessa is a Jersey mom who runs the extra mile to help others

Editor's note: The Asbury Park Press is celebrating 31 days of kindness this month, highlighting New Jersey people and organizations that have inspired us throughout 2023. 

Vanessa Seymour’s 10-year-old daughter was one of the rare cases of severe pediatric COVID-19.

The infection turned into pneumonia and caused serious heart problems that kept her daughter in the hospital for two months, including two weeks in an intensive care unit.

These were the most frightening moments in Seymour’s life. She didn’t know what to do in the midst of a pandemic that was then still an enigma. But then, it all suddenly changed. In the most unexpected way, Seymour’s daughter took a 180-degree turn and woke up completely healthy.

Today, her daughter's sudden recovery is something Seymour is grateful for, and it's a key reason she's paying it forward, she said.

Here's how she got that chance: On a mundane day while she was cleaning the house, a news story came on the TV about the Montclair Community Church receiving donations in collaboration with a local nonprofit.

Without thinking twice, Seymour filled two bags with clothes her daughter wasn’t using and took it to the church without knowing that she was about to become the main volunteer for the initiative, donating countless hours.

As soon as she got to the church, she noticed that The Kindness Closet needed some help. Without anyone asking her, she started organizing the donations that the church had received, and the rest is history.

More: Red Bank NJ nonprofit Lunch Break creating 'unity, celebration' mural

An initiative of Project Kind, a Rockaway-based nonprofit committed to those who are homeless or economically challenged, The Kindness Closet is a hub that provides free food and necessities to those who need it most.

Currently, there are two Kindness Closets in New Jersey: One in Rockaway and a second one that recently opened at the Montclair Community Church. Both offer free necessities, such as clothes, personal care products and small appliances that were either donated to the hubs or purchased by the organization with the monetary donations it receives.

Born and raised in Montclair, Seymour is a single mother. She works as a full-time mobile medical technician, and to make ends meet, she works cleaning homes part time.

But still, Seymour finds time to help others through her work at The Kindness Closet in Montclair.

At the Kindness Closet, she coordinates donations efforts by organizing donations, identifying the items that people need, then purchasing those things or locating donors.

“It makes me feel good. That’s why I keep doing it on a regular basis - because there’s such a need. I think people don’t realize how bad times are right now that people are suffering and in need with the rent (prices) being so high,” she said.

And Seymour’s commitment is laudable. She runs the extra mile to get people the things they need.

She reaches out to people who might be in need but are unaware of the nonprofit’s initiative, such as when she reached out to two families through Facebook after she learned a house fire had displaced them.

And if people can’t travel to The Kindness Closet, she drives to them, taking donations to their doorsteps.

Of all the instances of kindness, one that holds a remarkable place in her memory is when she learned about a young mother in her 20s whose landlord was refusing to repair the heating.

Seymour started making calls until she found a heater, some blankets and a comforter that she provided to the mother and her baby. But the cold might have already taken a toll on them; the mother and her baby showed up with a fever. Seymour found the needed medicine and drove to the church to provide it.

Seymour likes to take her daughter as a volunteer to the Kindness closet. As she said, she wants to pass down the example of kindness for generations to come.

If you have a story of kindness, send us an email at kstrong@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Meet Vanessa, the NJ mother that runs the extra mile to help others