South Jersey man wants to 'return kindness' to the community

LUMBERTON, New Jersey (WPVI) -- A South Jersey man is on a mission to "Return Kindness" to his community through selfless acts.

For Troy Green and "The Kindess Crew," a typical day may be surprising a Chick-Fil-A worker with extra cash or jumping in and paying for someone's groceries at ShopRite.

"I follow my heart and do everything how it should be done," said Green. "A lot of people call me the unofficial mayor, but it's more I kind of get along and help out with everybody."

For Green, it all started when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017. He wanted to help.

"I did a post and within three days we had over $400,000 in donations," he said. The massive donation made him realize:

"If I can do that, I can do more," he said.

He's certainly done more. Most recently, his team collected more than 1,000 toys this holiday season, helping out toy drives at places like the Lumberton Township Police Department.

"When you have someone like that, the rock of the community, someone you can lean on, that sets an example for the community," said Lumberton police officer Stephen Solovey.

Green already has a lot of plans for the New Year. He wants to gift someone a house, donate 10,000 toys, and he's already working on a Valentine's Day benefit.

If you ask him the overall goal for "Return Kindness," however, you just heard it in the name.

"A lot of people like to receive the kindness but they don't quite return it," he said. "I want people to learn our ways and practice it every minute of the day even if it's just holding a door open for somebody."

Always practicing what he preaches, Green hopes as he spreads kindness, it will be returned to someone else.