I thought about waiting to share this story until after the entire acts of kindness related to it are finished, but I am excited to tell you about it, and I also like to write when things are still fresh in my memory. So here is a quick update on…
If you follow Kindness Activist you will remember that recently a sweet little girl named June Bug hosted a hot cocoa stand to raise money for us! In a short 2.5 hours, this little dynamo raised $1118.75 – all to be used to spread kindness!!! (Note – that number is slightly higher than what was previously shared as a couple of donations for cocoa came in after the fact).
Since the cocoa stand was HER idea and since she put so much effort into it, of course my little friend is involved in deciding how the money will be used. She and her mamma came over one evening to brainstorm ideas of how she would like to spread kindness. Here are some of the things that she came up with:
-
Give gifts to the
teachers and staff at her former pre-school (shhh, don’t tell them because this
is still in the works, but “lip chap” is one of her ideas to treat them…)
-
Buy gifts for
sick kids at Children’s National Hospital (where her mom was a nurse, and where
she has been a patient)
-
Buy things for a
classroom (we have chosen a local classroom that has 4 students, all with
autism)
-
Pay for people’s
meals at an iconic local restaurant – Weenie Beenie (I suspect that she wants
to do this one because she wants to eat at Weenie Beenie…)
So, with those ideas to get
us started, I picked June Bug up this weekend and we went shopping!
First stop – the grocery store to buy SNACKS for the classroom. We had some ideas of what the students like (and allergies) from talking with the teacher, so June Bug picked out some terrific items. She got juices, popcorn, tasty cereal bars, and goldfish crackers. She even picked out some very special juice bottles with characters on top (we agreed that the students will love them!).
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| Treats for a classroom |
Then off to Target. But before we could even go inside, we saw something we needed to check out – a young woman selling painted rocks. They were beautiful! We talked to the artist and her mother, and it turned out that the woman was Deaf and was selling her artwork because her hearing aid had broken and she needs a new one. Insurance won’t cover it, so she is raising money to purchase it.
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| The artist and the activist |
It was hard to choose what to buy (there were so many pretty ones!) but June Bug picked a piece of watermelon rock and a rainbow with a cloud rock. Fun! We talked about who those would be for and she thought she may give one to her “Sister Cousin” and keep one for herself. Later that plan changed to give both to her cousins. So sweet.
Once inside Target, we started in the BOOK section, because books were on her list of things that kids in the hospital needed. She very deliberately looked for and chose books that she has at home, as she knows those. “Oh, this is a good one!!! Let me show you Kindness Susan!” she told me as she turned page after page of a book about a fish. We ended up with a few books, one nice sticker book (which she has at home, too), 3 coloring books, and crayons to go with those.
We grabbed some sensory
toys for the classroom and the markers that the teacher had requested, then ON
TO THE TOY DEPARTMENT!
I feared this part might
be difficult. I mean, June Bug is 5
years old (5 ½ if you ask her)… Imagine
shopping up and down the toy aisles looking only for things for other people
and not yourself at that age…
But she was great! We had written down some ideas of what she
thought children at the hospital would want, so we started with one of those: a
doll (how to choose? But she did!). Then another thing on her list: a
stuffy. She went for a chocolate brown
teddy bear, one of the softest I have ever felt. She decided it would be ok for her to snuggle
that in the store and the car on the way home, and I agreed. She also chose a game, some cool balls, some
small wooden train cars, and I talked her into a little lap art desk set and a
Rubik’s cube (“For the older kids, June Bug!” I told her.) I talked her OUT of a musical piano and a
MICROPHONE (“June Bug, I am not so sure the nurses would like the children to
have those… Don’t you think they would
be a bit, oh, I don’t know, NOISY for a hospital???”)
She added some “lip chap”
for the sick children, then our cart was quite full and we thought we were
done. But I remembered the ROCKS. “June Bug, would you maybe like to give the
rocks to people HERE at the store?” I asked her. She smiled her great big smile and her eyes
twinkled. “Yes, Kindness Susan!!”. She loved the idea.
But who to give them to…
I saw a woman in a
wheelchair looking at some shoes. I pointed
her out and asked if perhaps she would be a good rock recipient. June Bug thought she would, so we
approached. I told her before we got to
the woman that she needed to speak up nice and loud, and she did. She explained we had a very pretty rock that
we would like to give her, and handed the watermelon rock to the woman.
The woman was so
happy! “Oh my goodness, I COLLECT
ROCKS!” she told us. “And this one
is beautiful!!” June Bug and I were both
so pleased that we had chosen her to give the rock to. I am
not sure which made the woman happier – getting to talk to a delightful young
girl, or adding a pretty rock to her collection. Either way, June Bug’s gift made her day.
For the 2nd rock we hunted down someone working in the store. June Bug decided it should go to someone working hard, and we found the right person: a woman putting the carts and baskets away. She, too, was delighted to get a gift from a young Kindness Activist. She asked June Bug her name and shared hers – CiCi. She was very thankful (and I am quite sure that rock created a kindness ripple was spread throughout the store after we left when CiCi told all of her co-workers what had happened).
June Bug was in charge of
checking everything out at the self-check (sorry Target guy, she didn’t mean to
ring up those items twice and make you come over and assist us not one time but
two…).
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| Some of June Bug's excellent purchases |
After I dropped my little friend back at her house, I thought about the “coincidences” that had happened that afternoon. We noticed a person selling rocks outside Target (which I have never seen before). We stopped to chat. The person was Deaf, and I am a sign language interpreter so could communicate easily with her. We could donate to help fund her new hearing aid. And out of everyone in the store, we happened to choose a woman who COLLECTS ROCKS to gift one to.
But really, I don’t think
those things are coincidences. I love when
things like that happen. I honestly
believe that they happen to all of us, and much more often than we know. If we open our eyes and our hearts and pay
attention to the world around us, we notice them. Try it!
My friend and I still have
much more to do – we need to deliver the gifts we have purchased, get the
teacher gifts prepared, go to Weenie Beenie…
I am looking forward to
it! Spending time with young, KIND kids
is inspiring. Kids get it. They are great role models.
Kindness Activist funds
spent:
Snacks and toys for the
classroom: $63.71
Rocks: $30 (we paid more than the asking price, and purchased 2 more as we were leaving the store)
Things for sick kids at the hospital: $191.99
Getting to spend the
afternoon seeing kindness through the eyes of a child: priceless.
