No Show Kindness

I met Andria Alefhi a couple of months ago when we teamed an interpreting assignment.  She seemed like a cool person, we functioned well as a team, and we got along swimmingly, so we became Facebook friends. 

The newest Kindness Activist - ANDRIA!

Yesterday morning she posted this thought provoking and motivating status: 

“Interpreters: in the spirit of giving, for the month of December, I'm creating a No Show Donation Challenge. I just came up with it now. For every client that's a no show or is late, take 5 minutes of that wait time to find a new organization to donate to. If that organization doesn't directly serve the Deaf community, a donation is a great time to add a question or message about making sure they know how to obtain an ASL interpreter (if it's a service organization). If you like this idea, share the organization you find with me so I can check it out too. I just donated to The Bronx Freedom Fund, check it out.“

Isn’t that a GREAT idea?  Maybe I need to explain a bit.  Interpreting, like other professions, sometimes has more “down time” than expected.  For example - you are booked to interpret a doctor appointment, but the patient doesn’t show up and so your work cancels.  Andria’s challenge to her cohorts is to USE that time that you suddenly have available to the world’s advantage!  Take just five minutes of the time you just got back to GIVE BACK to someone and make a donation to an organization/charity that you have never supported before!  Google makes it super easy to find a worthy cause to support.

I asked Andria how she came up with this swell idea and she told me, “I am not sure why I thought of this today! Donations for the recent fire in the Oakland art and music space were on my mind, and today I was sitting in the lobby waiting for a client, and the idea to use my time doing something productive for someone else came to mind.”

I would like to add, the NO SHOW DONATION CHALLENGE can apply to many, many professions!  How many of you have NO SHOWS/CANCELLATIONS as part of your professional life?  I can think of several right off the top of my head:  hair stylists, dentists, therapists, flight attendants/pilots, manicurists, doctors, fortune tellers…  ANYONE who works by appointment has cancellations!   Andria says, “I targeted the challenge to interpreters, and I'm calling it the No Show Donation Challenge, because, when we find out an assignment is a no show or has been cancelled, interpreters are often fortunate enough to be able to bill for that and leave, ending up with free time and 'bonus pay' if you will.  There are some fields of work where no client equals no billing.”  So, if you are in a field where “no show” does not equal “no income” for you, please follow Andria’s advice and USE your new found free time to find an organization and make a donation!  And if you are an interpreter, heed this gentle reminder from our Kindness Activist, “As ASL interpreters, we have an obligation to give back to the Deaf community, so consider donating to all kinds of service organizations; your money, or your time, or education and outreach.”

Andria and her husband Jonathan

An added benefit of the challenge is that Andria has asked her friends who participate to comment on the post and tell her what new organizations they found to support.  This means she (and her friends who follow the post) will get to find out about other worthy organizations that they, too, might want to give to.   Andria has her next no show donation ready to roll, “Next on my list is the Nyle DiMarco Foundation. I'll probably donate to 50/50 Deaf and general organizations.”

I always ask Kindness Activists that I interview how doing their kind actions made them feel, and almost unanimously people say how terrific they felt while doing whatever it is they are being recognized here for.  Andria was no exception, “I felt great donating to The Bronx Freedom Fund today. I've been meaning to do it for a month now and just kept forgetting. They serve underrepresented and poor people who are arrested and cannot make bail and are pushed into pleading guilty to crimes they may not be guilty of in order to not go to jail, all because they cannot make bail. I don't know if they have ever had a Deaf client, so, I added a note to my donation.  So now they got my donation plus education and a useful contact.”

In the spirit of the holidays, Andria has a good reminder for us all, “Of course, people can donate every day, you don't have to wait for a No Show client.”

Thanks for the great challenge Andria!  CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Isn't this a lovely photo of our Activist?  

Here is some fun bonus stuff I found out about Andria that you don’t want to miss (though with all of these things going on, I am surprised she doesn’t use her cancellation time to NAP!):

Andria has an Etsy shop where she sells custom built clocks made from found and recycled objects!  Don’t believe me?  See for yourself here: New York Clocks

Andria and her friends run a funky business called Speakeasy Karaoke, where you can “Make your next event extra VIP with a private karaoke party. Speakeasy Karaoke has everything including a live band and thousands of songs to choose from.”  Follow them on FB and go sing your heart out.

Andria even PERFORMS WEDDINGS!  Yup, she can marry you in English or ASL!  Find out more about that and her interpreting work at her website: http://www.andriaalefhi.com/

And here are links to organizations mentioned in this article:

Nyle DiMarco Foundation - https://nyledimarcofoundation.com/

The Bronx Freedom Fund - thebronxfreedomfund.org