Mum stunned by 'incredible' act of kindness by stranger

Jen Willis said an envelope containing $150 and a sweet note was left in the car. Photo / Facebook

A single mother has shared an "incredible" act of kindness that brought her to tears after she purchased a second-hand car.

Jen Willis, from the Victorian town of Daylesford, northwest of Melbourne, bought the vehicle privately last week but soon discovered the owner had left her a heartwarming surprise.

A white envelope containing three $50 notes had been tucked between the sun visor and roof.

"This is a random act of kindness," the note reads.

"Please use to spoil your family in a way that makes you happy.

"Just felt it on my heart to do for you, in what sounded like a challenging time for you."

Willis said it was "such a beautiful random act of kindness" to be gifted.

"With only one adult now in our household here in Daylesford, I did a two for one with our cars and sold our Prado and Suzuki Swift to a dealer and bought a Subaru Outback privately and when I pulled down the sun visor as I went to drive my new car home, this fell into my lap," she wrote on Facebook.

"Needless to say, I teared up instantly with this incredible thoughtfulness!"

Willis said she had just separated from her husband, who was moving back to the US, when she was looking for "that exact car, a used Subaru Outback but with all the safety features".

"I now only needed one car for my boys and I, and because I also have MS (multiple sclerosis), I also wanted one that was going to be easy to drive as well as I can get quite tired driving," she told news.com.au.

"I also shared that our little boy had not been well – we thought it may have been quite serious, but thankfully it's not, and that I also worked full-time, and so was under a lot of pressure and so having the car part of working out my new life was just such a relief."

Willis told news.com.au she initially thought the owner must have kept money stashed there and forgotten about it.

"Then when I turned it over and read the beautiful message and realised it was a gift for me, I was overwhelmed, and of course started to cry a little!" she said.

Jen Willis said she was moved to tears. Photo / Facebook

She said the note was from the car owner and his wife.

"He was a lovely guy in his 60s, a very genuine person," she said.

Willis shared the note on The Kindness Pandemic Facebook page where it had been liked more than 9500 times and attracted almost 300 comments by Wednesday night.

One woman wrote: "An amazing person to do this. I hope it helps brighten your day."

"Teared up myself. How lovely," another said.

The gift of "three pineapples" was described by another commenter as "so generous".

The public Facebook group has gained more than 570,000 members since it was created by Dr Catherine Barrett in Australia in March 2020.

"We set up #TheKindnessPandemic because so many people need acts of kindness right now; and so many others want to hear stories of kindness," the page states.

"Kindness won't make Covid-19 go away, but it will make our lives easier and more rewarding.

"We particularly encourage intergenerational kindness, but welcome you sharing all acts of kindness."

Willis said her two sons thought it would be nice to divide the $150 by the three of them.

"My daughter is 19 and lives in Brisbane and so she was just excited for me," she said.

The mother-of-three is planning to take her boys out to Sault Restaurant in Daylesford.

"(It's) a bit above my price range, so we will use it to go for a dinner there," she said.