Proud Kind Kids, Happy Mammas

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mammas out there!

Kindness Activist held a Mother’s Day gift making event and boy howdy, did we MAKE THE GIFTS!

Each child drew a self-portrait and had a photograph taken.  Then they decorated a frame that had two 5 x 7 openings.  We printed the photos and shrunk the drawings to size and voila – fancy Mother’s Day gifts!

Of course, it was not quite that simple…  There were glitter “incidents”.  There was quite a lot of PAINT glopped about (including the purple that must’ve been on the bottom of my shoe before I walked into and through the house…).  There were “gem emergencies” when shiny rhinestones fell off and had to be reglued.

But there was joy.  Oh, was there joy!  Those kids were so PROUD of their work.  Most were very detailed and thorough and did not rush one bit.  In fact, the hour-long slots we allotted were not long enough, so the craft assistants never got any breaks between sessions, because as soon as one group finished the next group appeared.

One sweet girl showed up today.  Her mamma has been overwhelmed with work (and life), and thought today was the crafting day.  NOT TO WORRY!  We busted out the materials and supplies again and let the artist (and another child who was over) create! 

Apparently, the magic worked, because mom’s have been sending sweet messages of gratitude. 

·       My heart is full today. Thank you so much for organizing the super thoughtful Mother’s Day crafting project. I’ve in love with my updated pics and pictures. Thanks to the fairy godmother of Penrose!

 

·       I love the frames and photos so much! Thank you again so much for making this amazing Mother’s Day gift possible. And thank you for being a mother to the whole Arlington community  

 

·       Thank you soooo much for this beautiful Mother’s Day gift! I think this is the best gift I have ever received!

 

·       Thank you so much for the sweet and lovely gifts you prepared with the kids!!! I love them!!

 

·       My child gave me her present and it is absolutely adorable. I LOVE it!!! And the wrapping paper was so pretty. You are so kind to offer these special crafts that mean so much to us moms.

Thanks for trusting your kids to us.  We had fun creating with them and seeing their confidence grow, one brush stroke and glitter blob at a time.

 

Volunteer hours put in for this project:  38.75

Number of kids who made gifts:  21 (plus one child who made 2, so a total of 22 gifts)

Kindness Activist funds spent:  $279.89 (most of the paint, glitter, brushes, etc. were in our craft supply already, KA funds were spent on frames, printing photos and self-portraits, and wrapping paper)

Cost per child: $13.99

 

P.S. – sorry about the glitter that will get on whatever table you place your frame on, moms.

P.P.S. – if you can post a photo of your child’s finished gift in the comments that would be great!

Here are some of the amazing self-portraits.

Kindness Ripples

One thing that brings me both pride and joy is taking a moment to pause and take in the KINDNESS RIPPLES that are flowing.

Kindness Ripples are kind actions that occur because the person doing them has been inspired by other acts of kindness.  These ripples are at the heart of Kindness Activist – my belief in ripples makes me brave enough to put myself out there and talk about kindness to the world.

The longer I have been engaged in Kindness Activism, the more ripples I see.  Maybe it is because my eyes have become more astute at spotting them, I don’t know.  But what I do know is that they happen every single day:

-         A stranger drove by recently, saw me outside doing something, and made a u-turn to come back.  He explained that he met me about a decade ago when I was standing outside sharing slices of fresh peaches that we had picked from our tree.  He appreciated that gesture and has been watching the kindness emanate from the Big Yellow House ever since.  I didn’t even REMEMBER handing out peach slices, but I dug back in my photos and sure enough, on August 3, 2014 (well before the idea of Kindness Activist was conceived), I stood outside and handed out fresh fruit from our tree!!  So, this stranger who had been the recipient of kindness so many years ago reached into his pocket and donated $60 to the cause!  That was one long lasting ripple!

When your peach tree is prolific, you SHARE!  August 2014

-         People we have never met walk by and bravely take time to stop and say “Thank you.  I don’t know you, but thank you for all you do for the community.  You are an inspiration.”  I have to believe that they then carry that inspiration, that ripple, with them on their walk and do something kind for someone. 

-         A woman stops by every once in a while.  I have met her and know her name, but we have never had a chance to have a real conversation.  But she pops over to our porch or hails me to her car and gives a donation.  She recently gave $100.  She wants to see the kindness continue.  She has caught a ripple.

-         A friend told me the other day that because of what she has witnessed Kindness Activist do, she has become a kinder person.  She, too, has caught a ripple.  She explained that she is consciously trying to be more kind in her own life now.

-         Another friend is an artist and recently began selling beautiful photographs that she has taken and printed.  She could use the money – rent here in the DC metro area is very expensive and she is also dealing with some health issues which can result in big medical bills.  But instead of keeping all of her hard-earned income, she donated 10% of it to Kindness Activist.  Ripple.

-         People stop and take photos of the green neon “Just Be Kind” sign that glows from our front porch every night.  It’s funny – many people are too shy or embarrassed to come up and say hi.  Sometimes when I see them out there, I smile and wave, and they quickly put their phones down and walk away, ashamed that I “caught” them I guess.  But people – I am grateful for your photos!  Because I know they will be posted to Instagram and Twitter your friends will see them and their friends will see them ….  And that little green sign will work quietly to spread ripples all night long.

Simple message.  
I was nervous about spending Kindness Activist funds on a neon sign, but it turned out to be a great investment as it has created MANY ripples ($201.37).

And finally, one more story of an amazing ripple. 

A local father reached out to me via Facebook message and said, “Our kids have a “charity bucket” as part of their allowances.  They aren’t allowed to spend it but choose where to donate.  They chose to give half of their 2022 donation to Kindness Activist.  What’s the best way to do that?”   

THANK YOU NEIGHBORS!

Oh my goodness!!!!  Even children are catching the kindness ripples!!  The dad told me that the children earn $1 a week allowance (plus interest) and one of the “buckets” that they have for the money is charity.  When I expressed my gratitude and disbelief that 3 young kids were willing to donate $300 to Kindness Activist, he told me, “It was an easy decision for them as they see your work in the neighborhood.  And our youngest is a frequent consumer of everything you offer around the holidays”. 

Isn’t that so sweet??? Kindness Ripples in ACTION!  Makes me proud and very, very happy.  I wrote them a thank you and it was fun telling them the cool ways that their donation spread kindness.

What act of kindness can YOU do today that will inspire a Kindness Ripple?  It doesn’t have to be a big gesture – any simple act of kindness will do.  And, because of ripples, your act will beget another act which will beget another act…  And the ripples will just keep on flowing.

 

 

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