Kindness Activist: $416.59 Given Away So Far

Monday, July 1, 2019

$416.59 Given Away So Far - How It Was Used!!

Oh. My. Goodness!! More of the proceeds from the Kindness Yard Sale have been given out, and it is SO FUN! It is both inspiring and educational to decide where to use the money and to see it go out into the world.

As a reminder, a total of $1552.76 was collected at the sale. (I think that number is a bit larger than last time I wrote, because another donation came in 😊 ). Of that, so far I have given out $416.59 – over $400!! This is the 3^rd accounting report. Here are the most recent ways the money was used:

· $6 was given out to GOOD DRIVERS in Arlington, Virginia! Our house (which we affectionately call “The Big Yellow House”) is right on a very busy corner at a stop light. At the stoplight, drivers are supposed to stop right behind our driveway. They should know this because there is a big line painted on the road, and a SIGN telling them. The reason they need to stop so far from the red light is because city BUSES have to make left turns on our corner, and if cars pull all the way to the light, the buses cannot make the turn. And yet, despite the signage and the line, MANY drivers pull all the way up to the light… This is so frustrating for bus drivers who are trying to do their job and get their riders where they are going on time! So, I made 6 envelopes for good drivers who followed the rules, each with a $1 bill inside. Then I stood at the line by the sign and handed them out to cars that stopped in the right place! It was funny to see people’s expressions when I congratulated them on following the rules of the road. One recipient said, “Well, I stop here because it is the LAW!”. Yea buddy, I wish everyone followed your lead.

· $3.85 was used to pay for a stranger’s boba tea 😊. I was having one (paid for with my
money of course, not sale proceeds) and it was fun for the person behind me, too.

· $25 was left in an envelope at our hair salon for our stylist’s next client to help pay for
their hair cut. Our stylist, Gilbert, was excited to be included in the giving and promised
to make sure the person after us received it.

· $20 was put in an envelope for someone pumping gas. This was an interesting one… First, I taped the envelope to the handle of a gas pump because I thought that would make it obvious and whoever came next would see it and be curious enough to open the

envelope. Only, it turned out that people didn’t READ the envelope, they just saw a note

on a pump and assumed it meant the pump was closed. So, I moved the envelope to the

windshield of someone who had gone in to pay and get snacks. We waited and secretly

watched until they came out. They SAW the envelope, took it off, and (without opening it)

threw it on their dashboard. Oops!! At first I was a little disappointed, but it was a good

lesson for me: once the money is given, it belongs to the person who found it. What they

do with it (even if that is never open the envelope to find it) it up to THEM. I have no

control over that.

· An older gentleman often walks in front of our house wearing a bright yellow safety vest. I

have wondered where he was coming from, and on a walk recently I found the answer

– HE SWEEPS THE SIDEWALKS on Columbia Pike!! He gladly accepted a $5 tip for

keeping the space clean.

· $50 was given to the Arlington Free Clinic so that a patient could have their first dental exam

for free. I had often passed the Clinic since it is near my bank, but had never gone in. It is

really NICE!! The staff were so friendly, too! I got a tour of the facility and an explanation

of how it works. Medical care is free, as are most meds. But patients have to pay $50 for

their first dental exam (thereafter treatment is free). So now one lucky person will get clean

teeth for free! The staff were very appreciative of the neighborhood donating there.

· We had a fun time using $25 of the proceeds to pay for PARKING FEES for people leaving the garage at the Arlington Hospital. Boy were they surprised when someone whipped out $5 bills to pay for them! I would like to do that again sometime. I hate that we have to pay for going to the hospital (or the doctor if your doctor’s office is in that building). So if we can help ease that burden off of someone I am all for it!

· I want to use some of the funds to pay for a patient’s prescription, but I haven’t been able to

do that yet. I have tried 3 times but there is never anyone with anything to pick up!

However, there was an older couple filling out forms to get inoculations, and I got to pay for

those! The woman gave me a big thank you and hug – that was the best $8 spent that day for sure.

· $26.75 was used to pay for groceries of someone checking out at Safeway on Rt. 50. The
shopper was very surprised, and promised to pay it forward and do something good for
someone else.

· While road tripping from Virginia to Florida, we pulled over to get gas. I used $20 to buy

10 Powerball tickets which we then gave to people – the man cleaning a fast food

restaurant, a checker and the man working at the fish counter at a grocery store, and a few

more people. Everyone was very excited to receive a gift from a stranger that might be

worth $120M!! I put the last lottery ticket (in an envelope with a note and a Kindness

Activist business card) on the windshield of a car in the parking lot. I was hoping it would

not blow away and sure enough it didn’t! The owner of the car contacted me! She wrote:

“I would love to know how or why you selected my car to put a lottery ticket on. Was it a

one time occasion, random? My heart needed this act of kindness. Even if I don’t win… It was a down day for me yesterday. Thank you for your act of kindness.”. Later she

showed me an awesome project she is working on – connectmycause.com . She said her

motivation is, “To help nonprofits thrive and bring awareness to the community about the

nonprofit services available”. Sounds like kindness to me!

· We pulled over to check out a LOVE sculpture on the same road trip. Isn’t it cute?? We hid $20 in an envelope under the letter “O” with a note saying that we love love, and the

finder should take their love to lunch. I wonder if anyone has found that yet…

· I posted a question on the Kindness Activist Facebook page (which you should “like” and
“follow” if you don’t already 😊 ) asking: “Hypothetical question: if someone handed you
$50 right now, what would you do with it? #KindnessActivist” 80 people viewed the post. 13 people “engaged” with it (not sure what that means…). And only 2 took the time to think
about what they would do and reply. Those 2 were each rewarded with $50! Rebecca Lahan
donated hers to RAICES to help immigrant children on the Mexico/America border, and
Samantha Blackby is using hers to buy new back-to-school tennis shoes for a child in
Kentucky whose family can’t afford them. (Story on those gifts here: Taking Attendance )

· My sisters and I like to paint rocks and hide them for people to find. We mostly hide them in parks and in the Cancer Center where Annette is being treated. While they were painting rocks recently, I painted a big pine cone (my big sister helped put on some dots, too). I put $10 in an envelope with an envelope saying the finder could use it for ice cream and hung it and the pine cone from a tree in a park (not a pine tree – we wanted it to stand out to passersby). After I hung it, my sisters told me that a man (presumably homeless) had been peeing in the bushes nearby and saw me doing something in the tree. At first we all thought, “Oh man – the guy who was peeing in the bushes is going to get the money, that’s yucky…”. At first the man didn’t look in the tree, but then he turned and saw an out of place pine cone with an envelope… He stopped and looked, then took the envelope. He opened it, read the note, and put the note and money in his pocket. As we watched from a distance, I realized he was the RIGHT person to find it. He was in the right place at the right time, and he paid attention to the world around him. I was glad he happened upon it. So glad, in fact, that I took the pine cone down and we will hang it up again today with a new envelope and $10!!