Agent of Kindness

Spy specializes in acts of kindness

By Daveen Rae Kurutz, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 16, 2010
Most Pittsburghers have never met Laura Miller, but her alter ego, “Secret Agent L,” has touched thousands of people by making their days a little brighter.

An administrative assistant by day, Miller, 32, of Shadyside has masqueraded online as a secret agent of kindness since July 2009, documenting the random gifts she and fellow “agents” have left across the region for strangers to find. Gifts have included fresh picked flowers, $10 gift cards to various shops and inexpensive toiletries.

“It’s another good way to let people know that they aren’t alone,” Miller said. “We’re letting people know there’s someone out there who isn’t buying into the anger and the hate and the yuck that is out in the world. We’re making deliberate choices to do what’s good.”

During the past year, what started with a single purple hydrangea on a windshield, turned into a top secret mission that leaves strangers pleasantly surprised across the globe. Through her blog, Miller’s affiliated agents have gone on hundreds of missions of kindness. They return with the tale and photos of what they did to brighten a stranger’s day.

Miller’s first mission last year was completed as a birthday present for a fellow blogger who asked Miller to perform a random act of kindness in lieu of a gift. Once the creative wheels started turning, Miller paired up with coworker and friend Vivian Lee Croft to execute her plan.

Now, Croft is “Agent 99” to Miller’s “Maxwell Smart” and helps her friend devise and carry out new missions. The pair’s favorite was when they visited Allegheny General Hospital during a breast cancer event, leaving dozens of tiny gifts throughout the hospital.

“People don’t see out of their daily box because they’re so bogged down in life,” said Croft, 33, of the North Side. “(The hospital visit) made the importance of doing good things so real to me.”

Since a story on CNN.com shared her secret identity with the world, Miller’s e-mail inbox has been bulging with messages from people who want to help. Her group of agents has increased from 80 to more than 700 and grows every day. Visitors to her website, www.SecretAgentL.com, can sign up to become affiliated agents and be charged with a gift anonymously for someone.

“The thing that makes me the happiest is all the new affiliated agents that want to come on board,” Croft said. “These people now have worth. They feel like they can make a difference, like they matter.”

Miller is amazed at the amount of people who want to carry on her mission.

Each day, she e-mails dozens of “Secret Agent L” business cards for agents to attach to their gifts. Even a year later, she gets a thrill from leaving a $5 gift card or a blooming flower with a note for a stranger to find.

“You don’t need large sums of money to make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t need to be rich, you don’t need to be famous—you just have to care.”