Weekend of KINDNESS!

What.  A.  Weekend!!!

It was a weekend chock full of more kindness than any 2 days should be able to hold!  It was glorious!

A few months ago, I got excited thinking about creating some art with kids again (which is always fun!) and scheduled a Junior Kindness Activist event – making Mother’s Day gifts (now, in the spirit of the Big Yellow House being inclusive and not having a whole heck of a lot of structure or rules, these gifts were not specifically for mothers, but could be made to give to anyone).  We have done several of these events:  parents sign their child up, then drop them off for an hour-ish of CREATIVITY!  They make a piece of art to take home (and the parent gets a well deserved hour of peace).  There are some kids who are “regulars” and know how it all works and feel safe when their adult leaves, and others who are new to the experience and are a bit more trepidatious.

26 kids came for this one - in only 2 days!   Sign-ups were done in advance with a maximum of 4 kids per time slot.  And wow, did we have fun!!  The project this time was a special flower in a little flower pot and a card.  Kids painted their pots and flowers and filled the pots with pretend dirt.  There were sequins available to artists.  And glass beads.  Oh – and GLITTER, did I mention glitter??  The regulars have come to expect that when they come to Miss Susan’s to craft, they WILL be allowed to use glitter (even if the person they are making the gift for is not a big fan of this “ingredient”…). 

We used so many supplies this time!  Here are the ones that I can remember:  colored paper, glitter, markers, glue, sequins, paint pens, paint, paint brushes, more glitter, wooden sticks, rocks, glass beads, even more glitter, clay pots, fake flowers made of some sort of thin wood I think, silk leaves, card paper, shiny rock bits, floral foam, and GLITTTTER!  Many of these items were donations that came in for the Kindness Yard Sale that were squirreled away for this project instead (thank you donors – I hope you are cool with this use of the items!). 

The kids who created, ranging in ages from 2 to 10, were so lovely!!  They were polite and funny and artistic and silly and all-around fantastic.  We had kids who weren’t sure what their mother’s favorite color was and then one kid who actually knew his mom’s favorite FLOWER (and chose to make one that looked just like that variety to surprise her).  We had kids who thanked their moms in their cards for being the best mom in the whole wide world (how can so many of you be the best one in the world…) to one child who admitted in their card that maybe this hadn’t been the best of years…  We had kids who wanted to use every single color of paint imaginable to one who simply wanted to use BLACK (but later decided to spice it up by adding some yellow).  And we had everything in between.

One very proud artist - her flower pot is next to her

And we had SNACKS.  Ahhh snacks!  Thank you to donors of the Little Yellow Free Pantry – snack supplies were pulled from the pantry stock.  Capri Suns hit the spot on this sunny weekend, and chips, candies, fruit leathers, crackers, and more delighted the artists.

Artists hard at work

Special thanks to volunteers Nadya (who stayed much longer than the times she registered for and made the perfect model of the project), and Gary and Marc (who helped with the clean-up and giggled with me when the child asked for the “teal marker” – since when did kindergartners differentiate shades of blue??). 

 

Kindness Activist funds used:  $23.63 (lots of the craft supplies (like the glitter!!) were from my stash and others were donated so this came in at a great price!)

Only, as I alluded to at the beginning of this story, this was a BUSY WEEKEND…  So, making crafts was not the only Kindness Activist event.  Oh no, as kids and I were working in the BACKYARD, the PLANT WHISPERERS were working in the FRONTYARD!

You see, May 6^th was the Kindness Plant Sale, too!!! 

A group of amazing women in the community asked last year if they might pitch in and host a plant sale to raise money for Kindness Activist.  They said they would do everything, but could they host it at our house since we live on such a busy corner??  Well now, who could resist that offer???

So, this was the 3^rd Kindness Plant Sale and my oh my, was it ever successful!!  People donated so many plants and plant related items!  There were huge plants, baby plants, plants with thorns, plants with smooth leaves, PLANTS, PLANTS, PLANTS!  And they were gorgeous!! 

The sun was shining.  The air was warm.  And the shoppers turned out!  Boy howdy, did they turn out!

The event was supposed to last for 4 hours on Saturday, but because there were SO MANY donations, we had plenty left to extend another day, so we opened on Sunday too (albeit with a skeleton crew 😊 ). 

Generous shoppers/donors hit it out of the park on this one, people.  The Kindness Plant Sale more than doubled the total the volunteers brought in last time!!  I am so very grateful to these neighbors – thank you thank you thank you!

And if you did not get a chance to stop by and enjoy the extravaganza in person, remember, it’s not too late to shop the companion online auction event!!!  But you better check it out soon, because the final gavel bangs at 10:00 pm ET on May 9^th.  You know what they say – bid early and bid often!!  The proceeds from the online auction will also go to Kindness Activist and will be used to spread kindness.  Link to the online Kindness Plant Sale Art Auction here:  Kindness Plant Sale Art Auction

Kindness Activist funds raised from the Kindness Plant Sale so far:  $2330 (and more is likely to trickle in, the GIGANTIC yucca that was donated is now listed on Facebook Marketplace…)

Other kind things that happened in this short weekend:

-         We brought a hot dinner to our homeless friend

-         An AMAZING neighbor donated a very nice sofa to our friend (and a Kindness Activist volunteer) who just received permanent housing from the county – and not only did he donate the sofa, he donated the use of his TRUCK so that we could deliver it!

-         Another neighbor helped us get the sofa out of a basement apartment (not easy) and transport it.  Then he refused to accept money for his help.

-         A stranger helped carry sofa pillows and hold doors for us

-         A community member who needed something for dinner was comfortable enough to ask for it and received it

-         A neighbor girl who is a pantry guest was very happy to receive the first ever box of Q-Tips that pantry has had

-         A pantry visitor received a hot meal

-         Supplies were donated to the pantry 

 

More thanks to:

·        The woman who bought David and I lunch when we hadn’t eaten

·        The children who worked at the lemonade stand (and sold a LOT of drinks and treats!)

·        The people who work literally year-round to propagate and grow plants for these sales

·        The woman who bought David and I a box of wine 😊

·        The woman who made the cool Kindness Plant Sale sign for the last event that was used again this time

·        The women who patiently instruct those of us who do not know much about plants how often we should water our purchases and how much light they need

·        The stranger who recognized me in line at Trader Joe’s buying a cart full of flowers to make into bouquets for the sale and gave me a $25 gift card to help pay for them

·        The partners of the women who give up a lot of their time to come set up, sell, and tear down this massive event

·        The woman who brought David and I a bag of homegrown lettuce

·        The shoppers, many of whom donate more than they know the items are worth to keep this mission alive

·        The person who pulled up next to David and I at a red light when our Prius hatchback was full of the biggest yucca tree I have ever seen and said, “Hey, I bet you are going to the Kindness Plant Sale!” and made us crack up

·        The woman who brought David and I fresh watermelon

·        The woman who made cupcakes with EDIBLE FLOWERS on top to sell at the lemonade stand so that they would match the theme of the event

·        The women who holed up in our basement drinking “elf juice” and making floral arrangements until midnight (even if you did make fun of the ONE arrangement I made…)

·        The partner (#husbandforscale) who gave up his entire weekend to jump into this mumbo jumbo messy fun

·        The volunteers who stayed much longer than they ever planned to

·        The people who donated plants

·        The people who came to shop

·        And anyone I have forgotten in my exhausted state