We Love Stuffies!!

We did it!  Stuffie Adoption Day 2026 was a big success!!

This cutie patootie cracked us all up.
Photo shared with family permission.

Honestly, I have not idea how many stuffies were donated and adopted…  I do know one thing – there were far too many to count!

There were stuffies of every size, shape, and species.  There were characters (boy did we have a lot of Minnie Mouses this year).  There were classics (Pooh, Rex from Toy Story, and many more).  There were electronic stuffies (a cat that purrs and wiggles her ears, an owl that reads stories aloud, an I am not sure what that has eyes that look like screens and looks sort of scary…).  And there was everything in between.

The sun was shining.  The weather was perfect.  The kids were excited (and so was I!).  And the bakers were amazing!!

Getting ready to begin!!  The set-up volunteers, and the first group of event volunteers!  If you can't tell from the photo, we were excited!

How it worked:

Stuffies were donated by the community.  We asked that they be clean and in good condition, and wow, were there a LOT to choose from!  This is a rough estimate, but I am guessing we had between 200 – 300 stuffies (including, oops, the bag that accidentally got left in our car so didn’t even have a chance at adoption…). 

Visitors browsed through the many, many amazing stuffies, chose their 2 favorites, and then headed over to get an adoption certificate filled out.  There they were asked the name of their new friend for the official paperwork.  Most chose a name right there on the spot – Sparkles, Bob, Kitty… 

There were very delicious baked goods made by super kind neighbors.  There were Rice Krispie treats decorated for Halloween, brownies, muffins, cookies galore, cakes, donuts, cinnamon rolls…  My mouth is watering just writing about them!  One sweet baker, a young one, was all set to bake with her Grandma, but Grandma had a medical emergency so could not come to town.  No worries!  H. put on her apron and made delicious sweets all by herself (including adorable unicorn horns and cinnamon rolls!).  She also stayed to help out at the event!

Free Stuffies!  Stop and get your free stuffies!

A talented neighbor created kindness greeting cards and they were so cute!  I wish I had taken a photo of the display.  We have some of those left if you would like to buy any.  They are really nice.

 

Young artists made posters for the event and volunteers took turns holding them high to attract people driving, walking, and biking by.  One group of young helpers took it upon themselves to start a “drive thru bake sale and stuffie” business.  It was pretty funny seeing them interact with people in cars at the red light.  They made lots of sales of baked goods and gave away some stuffies that way, too!  One of the Venmo donations that came in included the note, “Thank you for the cookies & plushies!!  - the family in the black Ford Explorer”.  Ha ha ha.

Volunteers in ACTION!

I decided Stuffie Adoption Day was the perfect time to bust out my new (to me) tutu I had thrifted in Omaha.  It must’ve made a grand impression, because my almost 5 year-old friend John brought me over this drawing of me wearing it today!

I love this drawing of me in my tutu!  The way the artist changes perspective from looking at me to looking down on the tutu - isn't it great?  I think I may need to change my profile photo to this...

The event is meant to be a FUN Raiser, not really a FUND Raiser, because the stuffies are free to adopt.  But the addition of the bake sale not only means visitors have something sweet to eat, but that money is collected to support Kindness Activist’s mission to spread more kindness in the world.  We did not expect to raise a lot – the event was only 6 hours.  But boy howdy, were we surprised to add up the total!!

The bake sale (and cards) raised $802.37 for Kindness Activist!!  Amazing!

Not to worry - I only adopted the pig HAT, not the other two pigs in the photo.

My favorite part of this event was talking with the guests.  It was so fun chatting with volunteers and “shoppers”.  One woman came up to me and said, “You know, we have been wondering WHAT this house is…  We tried Googling it but couldn’t figure it out…  We are so glad we saw this event today and stopped by!”.  They left not only knowing about KA and the work we do in the community, but they also bought a Kind is Cool shirt to help us spread the word!  (And I think that their little baby will be back next month to write a letter to Santa…)

Such great volunteers!! 

I was delighted that some guests of the Little Yellow Free Pantry got to get baked goods, too.  Whenever I saw a guest at the Pantry, I invited them over to choose something from the bake sale table.  They were so happy to be included and to get a homemade treat.

So many volunteers came out to help – of all ages, too.  At some points we had more volunteers than shoppers!  And that was a-ok with us because it gave us time to put out more stuffies and gave us an excuse to stand on the corners with our signs. 

Happy adopter with her new stuffies, snuggled in and ready for bed

We heard lots of great comments during the day about how fun it is to help, how cute the stuffies were, and how tasty the lemonade and baked goods were.  One mamma took time to send us this note, explaining what her son told her after they left.  He had a hard week, and she wasn’t sure they would be able to come over.  But then he told her: “I thought today would be the worst day, but today was a really fun day—the BEST day!”  His mom reported, “He seems to say this every time we come to a kindness event. I think the kindness energy accumulates into a powerful presence chez vous!”.  After choosing his stuffies, he even stayed to help with the beautiful chalk messages, and we were very happy he came.

So many people to thank.

Thanks to the donors of stuffies (YOU thought you were “getting them out of your house”, but you were also making lots of kids very happy)

Thanks to Teresa for making the beautiful cards

Thanks to the talented bakers

Thanks to the sign makers

Thanks to the chalk artists

Thanks to the “drive-thru bake sale” crew and to ALL of the amazing volunteers

And thanks to the people who came and adopted stuffies.  I know, I know, you already have “enough” stuffies in your lives, you do not really need yet another one.  But still, you came.  You let your kids choose a new friend (or two!).  You bought baked goods and help further our mission.

And you made my heart very happy.

Helping a little friend made his selection

P.S. - Check out this sweet "letter" John wrote (all by himself!) to David today about the stuffie event!

P.P.S. - We adopted out about half of the stuffies, meaning we have a LOT left.  This is a good thing, because it means:  

1.  We get to host an afternoon session of "plop into the stuffies and take your photo" day (date and time to be determined and announced soon)

2.  We have great stuffies to donate!  If your school, troop, religious institution, or group would like some, please email us at:  KindnessActivist@gmail.com .

You Reap What You Sow

This is a story about an act of kindness that floored me.  One that was actually jaw dropping to me.

It is not an act of kindness we performed. 

Instead, it is one we received.

We have been working on upgrading our bathroom.  What started as a simple project – replace a wonky faucet – quickly snowballed into much more: getting a new vanity, counter, sink, medicine cabinet, light fixture, painting the walls, replacing an outlet…  Oh, and yeah, a new faucet.  That’s how things always go, isn’t it?  Home repair projects start small, then grow exponentially and drag on forever.

 

Anyway, this work is being done in our beach house.  We escape here when we can to take in the sunshine and sand and recharge.  When we are not here, we rent it to vacationers (which gives us the income to keep it all going).  Because we “share” it with strangers, we need to keep it up and have it look nice.  (I say this to point out that our “real house”, the one we live in the majority of the time, needs MAJOR BATHROOM WORK and has for, well, years!  But have we tackled it?  No, no we have not…)

 

And because it is a second home, we do not have all of the bits and bobs here that we do at our main home.  We have limited storage space here, plus, we just live a “pared down” existence here, which is good for our souls.  The garage is small, and it has to house important things like beach toys and lawn chair cushions and bikes and our teeny tiny Fiat Pop car.  All of that does not leave much room for tools. 

 

At home, we have loads of tools and usually can find whatever we need to get a job done.  But at the beach house, we sometimes knock on neighbors’ doors and ask to borrow this or that.  We used to have a great next-door neighbor here who was thrilled to share his tools with us.  Sadly, he has long since moved away.

 

So, the other day when we realized that to make the new vanity fit, we would need to cut a piece of TILE, we were stumped.  David had brought his Dremel tool on this trip with him for a craft project I plan to do, but he didn’t bring the right blade for it to do something as major as cutting tile.  No neighbors had what was needed.  An Amazon search brought up an expensive Dremel brand single disc, or 6 off-brand cheap discs…  But going that route meant waiting 2 days (overnight delivery is not a thing here like it is at home), and we were trying to get the vanity IN.  So, we did what we do soooo often – we headed to the hardware store (the hardware store is David’s very favorite place to shop)!

 

We found the Dremel section and located what we thought was the right bit, but there are so many pieces to Dremels, and we needed the second piece that would hold the disc on.  We decided we needed assistance so hunted down an employee.

 

The employee was so nice!  When asked what Dremel bit was good for our project, he said, “Oh, I don’t ever use Dremels…  I use a GRINDER!  And look – I still have all 10 fingers!” he said as he smiled and showed us both hands.

 

“Ah yes!” David said jokingly.  “Wanna loan it to us?”

 

“Sure!  For a 6 pack of beer!” the employee joked back and we all laughed.

 

I remembered a tool I had given David for Christmas a few years ago and asked if THAT would work in this situation.  It turns out that yes, if we had that here at this house, that would be a good tool for this job.

 

“Well, since the Dremel pieces are going to be so expensive anyway, maybe we should invest in one of those tools for this place??” I said.

 

And that is when the 3 of us started the hunt for a Dewalt Multi-Tool.

 

Now people, if you have never strolled the tool aisles of a large hardware store, you do not know this.  But there are a surprisingly overwhelming number of electric tools…  There seem to be specialized tools for each and every job.  And not only that, but each BRAND makes at least 1 or 2 versions of each type of tool.  And the batteries from brand A do not work with brand B, so if you have brand A batteries for something else and want to share them with your new toy, you want to buy brand A again.  This makes it very confusing, and very hard to find the exact make and model you are in need of.

 

Anyway, the employee was really dedicated to helping us find what we needed.  He looked it up on his computer and took us to where it was.  Or I should say, where it was supposed to be.  Only, it wasn’t there.

 

We hunted up aisles.  We hunted down aisles.  We looked on end-caps.  We looked on special tables.  But that one specific tool was no where to be found. 

 

He was a bit embarrassed I think, and felt he was wasting our time.  Plus, he probably kind of felt that he had “failed” us (though it was no fault of his, and it was not for lack of trying!).  Eventually, he said, “Ya know…  I think I have my grinder in my truck.  Do you wanna just borrow it??”.

 

And this time, he was not joking.

 

He was serious!

 

“Uh – YES PLEASE!” was our enthusiastic reply.

 

“Wait here, I will be back…” he instructed.

 

As we waited, he popped out to his truck and set the grinder outside of his toolbox to make it easy to find.  He came back and told David the make and model of his truck and where it was parked.  “Just use mine,” he said.  “But wear eye protection and gloves!!” he added.

 

I was shocked.

 

A complete stranger was going to loan us an expensive tool, no questions asked.  He didn’t even ask for our NAMES or PHONE NUMBER!!

 

We got his name, and figured out a plan to return the tool when we were done with it.  I asked for his number before we left so that we could contact him and tell him when we were bringing it back.  We checked out with our other items, and off we went to hunt down his truck.

 

It was just so TRUSTWORTHY of him!  I mean, when we opened his big, beautiful, new truck (which he had left unlocked so we could get in!!), there were lots of tools in there.  We could have easily cleaned them out, loaded them into our car, and took off.  He didn’t know us from Adam.  But he trusted us, and he was kind.

 

We took the grinder, replaced it with a $20 bill, and headed home. 

 

The next day, David used the borrowed tool and successfully cut the tile.  The vanity fit right into place and it looks beautiful.  I sent the kind guy a few texts with photos so he could see the project that he had helped us with. 

 

Eye protection, gloves, and a fancy grinder tool!

David is getting ready to take the tool back to him today, along with some fresh peaches from our tree.  We will look for him, I am sure, each time we shop at that store. 

 

I won’t forget this act of kindness. 

 

It meant so much more than saving us a few bucks. 

 

It reminded me that there are good people in the world.  People who trust others, who believe in strangers. 

 

People who are KIND.

 

Now that I tell it, it sounds like such a simple story.  I mean, why did it surprise me so much?  And honestly, when I think about it in reverse, it is very much something I would do…  When you see someone who needs something and that thing is something you have, why not share it??

 

But most people don’t roll that way.  Most people can’t put down their guard.  Maybe they have been burned before, or maybe they were taught to not talk to strangers.  Or maybe they see the world in a more practical light and think doing something like this is ridiculous or risky.

 

When I recounted this story to a friend, she said, “Kindness begets kindness.  You reap what you sow, Susan”.

 

What a sweet reminder. 

 

That amazed feeling I got, that jaw dropping sensation when I reviewed in my mind what had just happened, I have been honored to provide that same feeling to many, many people via acts of kindness.  I bet after we pay for a stranger’s Christmas tree, or put quarters in people’s laundromat washing machines, or pick up the tab on someone’s groceries, or buy a gift off a stranger’s online wedding registry…  I bet those people feel the same way I felt when the employee said, “I think I have my grinder in my truck.  Want to just borrow it??”.

 

It was fun being on the receiving end of a big act of kindness. 

 

Thanks, new friend.  Your generosity, trust, and kindness meant more than you know.

Happy Birthday from a Kind Kid

I have said it before and I will say it again:  KIND KIDS GIVE ME HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

We get a lot of messages at Kindness Activist.  Things pop in every day.  Messages like:

“I have a 6 foot sofa, do you know anyone who might need it?”*

and “I lost my job and am having a really hard time, would it be possible to get some shampoo and soap?”**

and “We love what you are doing.  Thanks for making the world a kinder place”***

and “My child needs 27 volunteer hours by next Tuesday, can you help?”****

and “Is Kindness Activist a 501c3?  If so, I would love to donate and will use it as a deduction on my taxes”.*****

But we recently got a fun message, one that doesn’t pop in often.  It came from a mother and said, “Good afternoon Susan!  My 4-year-old wanted to make birthday cake kits for others for his birthday. We made 20 kits, which include everything you need for a celebration. They have: cake mix, icing, sprinkles, candles, forks, plates, vegetable oil, and a birthday card. Is this something the kindness house would be willing to share with others in our neighborhood?  If not, we can give them to food for others but wanted to check with you first.”

Isn’t that so sweet?  It turns out that J turned 4 in June, and instead of gifts, his family asked friends to bring items for birthday cake kits!  After collecting, they went to the store and he picked out all the extra things needed.  And guess what?  J met his goal of making 20 kits!

I mean come on.  How many kids would forego birthday presents for themselves to help make someone else’s birthday better???

J, you are a KIND KID.  We so appreciate you thinking of the “kindness house” and the guests of the Little Yellow Free Pantry.  Because of YOU, 20 people are going to have better birthdays (complete with candles and a card!).  You are making the world a kinder place (and at the same time, giving me hope for the future).

Kind kids are where it’s at.  Kids get it.  They know what kindness is about.

And the kind kids will soon grow up to be lawyers and teachers and doctors and electricians and soccer players and company owners and entrepreneurs and baristas…

And LEADERS. 

May the kind kids grow up to be the leaders that we need to make the country (and the world) a kinder place.

P.S. – we have enough cake kits for the rest of the summer thanks to J.

(Answers to the messages referenced above)

*We are not currently accepting donations for a Kindness Sale, but every once in a while we do help items find their way to people in need.  And when we can’t, we refer donors to other local organizations.  But please contact us and ASK, do not just drop items off without checking (unless they are for the pantry).

**”Yes!  We would be happy to give you some shampoo and soap. Do you want bar soap or body wash?  Need any toothpaste?  Deodorant?  Sorry about your job. Times are tough for a lot of people right now.  You are not alone.”

***”Thanks so much!  We really appreciate you taking the time to reach out and tell us that.  Your email made us super happy.”

****Unfortunately, we get this request a LOT. The problem with it is: the request usually comes from the parent, not the child who actually “needs the volunteer hours”.  And the requests often come very last minute.  We love working with young volunteers, but really prefer the child to ask us, and we need to plan in advance so often cannot accommodate these requests last minute.

*****”Why yes we ARE a 501c3, and as such, your donation is tax deductible!  We appreciate your support of our mission, and ensure that the funds you give will be used to spread kindness. Our email is kindnessactivist@gmail.com if you have any questions.”

 

Project Warmth 2026 Is In The Books!

Here’s the deal:  at Kindness Activist, we have a LOT going on.

For example, just this afternoon David said to me, “I can’t believe you are organizing THREE EVENTS at the same time…”.  And it is true, I am.  Ugh.  (Shhh, plus another one he has not heard about yet…)

But that’s ok!!  Because there are always things to do, and there is always kindness that can be spread!

One thing we are trying to get better at is FINISHING projects.  Like, actually putting all of the bits and pieces away.  Writing a report on how things went.  Posting a blog to share with YOU, the kind people who follow our work and donate warm clothing.  Really closing projects out before diving into the next one (or two or three…  Or perhaps at the same time as diving into the next one/s…).

Anyway, consider this the closing piece on PROJECT WARMTH, 2026!   I figure, now that temperatures are in the 90s here in South Arlington, Virginia, I should sit down and tell you how the big winter project went.

Our goal for 2026 was to give away at least 200 coats (we counted snow pants/snow bibs as coats, too).  200 was a lofty goal…  So, how did we do…

We blew that lofty goal out of the water!!

Project Warmth 2026 distributed 269 coats!!!! 

And along with coats, we gave away loads of hats, scarves, hand warmers, mittens, gloves, sweaters, shirts, long underwear, boots, some flannel pajama pants, and socks.  Whew – there was a LOT!

We accepted donations January 3 – 10.  We set everything up and handed out the first items on January 12.  Here is a fun fact: the first coat found a new home in just 10 minutes!!  We hit our goal of 200 on March 5, and kept going a couple of weeks after that. 

Things that went really well this year:

-         Storing all of the donations in storage unit at CubeSmart in Shirlington.  We had 3 sturdy clothing racks full of donations on hangers, an overflowing table of MORE donations waiting to be hung, and 2 other tables with scarves, hats, etc. 

-         Setting up a sturdy clothes rack in our basement to bring items over a few at a time as needed.

-         Sorting the racks at the storage unit into women’s, men’s, and kid’s.  That brilliant move didn’t happen until mid-season, but we have learned it is worth the time to do it.

-         Accepting donations for only one week.  We had plenty during that short period, and it was good to not have bags of gear showing up on our porch all season.

-         The new hangers!!  We have always had an issue with people taking the hangers with the coats, meaning we have to keep replacing hangers all season.  But this year, someone on Buy Nothing was giving away metal hangers just like hotels have – the kind that you cannot get off the closet rod no matter how hard you try.  We used those and they were brilliant and solved the hangers disappearing issue.

-         Adding warm winter socks to the wish list for the Little Yellow Free Pantry.  We want new socks to hand out – everyone deserves warm, good condition socks.  Having them on the wish list made it easy for donors to purchase.

-         Being willing to donate most of what was left at the end to charity instead of trying to pack it away for next year.  We only saved a few really good items that never got put out.

Snowstorm during Project Warmth 2025

And things that could’ve gone better and we hope to improve next year:

-         We had a lot of sweaters and shirts, and realized that coats are more needed and get taken quicker.  We may not accept sweaters next year, but stick to coats, hoodies, snow pants/snow bibs, boots, and the other accessories.

-         We need to put sizes on the boots.  It is hard to people to see inside them, especially when it is dark out and cold.

-         We need to ask for more HELP.  One night a neighbor came to CubeSmart and was soooo kind to organize a ton.  It was very helpful.  Next year, we need to ask for help to hang and organize.  People want to help, but they can’t if we don’t ask.

There you have it!  Another successful Project Warmth in the books. 

David jumping for joy at Project Warmth 2025

Special thanks to: 

-         Michael Jones, Sr. at CubeSmart.  You sir, ROCK!

-         Lauren Siperstein – thank you for the loan of the sturdy clothes rack again this year.  I promise we will return it soon (see above – trying to improve actually finishing things…)

-         The many, many kind people who donated items to be given away

-         The neighbor who made the sign for Project Warmth a few years ago – was it Lauren??  I love that sign – it is so effective, functional, and beautiful

-         The neighbor who helped me organize soooo much one evening at CubeSmart

-         The mysterious person who donated the “The Comfy”.  Even though it is kid sized, it is so amazing.  I confess, I kept it.  I washed it up and pulling it out of the dryer…  Oh my goodness…  Anyway, I PROMISE that I put in a couple of my coats and sweaters to make up for taking this donation, but I am now a proud owner of a (kid size) The Comfy.

-         The sweet neighbors who were so thankful to get warm clothing.  We heard loads of “God bless you”s and statements of gratitude

-         And my partner for now and forever, David Gaines, who made trip after trip after trip to CubeSmart with me, repaired the sign for me, put coats out when I couldn’t be here, put up with me obsessively making tic marks for each coat taken, and was/is the most supportive human in the world

And with that – PROJECT WARMTH 2026 IS A WRAP!

P.S. – I just did a bit of research to figure out just how long we have been hosting Project Warmth.  I teared up when I realized – 2026 was our 11th year.  Over a DECADE of giving away winter gear, helping people in need stay warm all winter.  Color me proud.

 

 

 

"Why Are You Doing This?"

“Excuse me, but why are you doing this?”.

Such a simple question really. 

But no simple answer.

We spent about an hour and a half today spreading kindness at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.  We both had the day off of work, so had time to use to do whatever we liked.  And what we realized we would like is: giving treats to strangers.

If that sounds random, well, it was. 

My partner David had a doctor’s appointment today in the Inova complex.  When it was finished, I asked if he would like to join me in doing something kind.  He’s always up for an adventure, so as expected, he said yes.

We drove to the nearby Lidl grocery store and stocked up on snacks - chips, gummies, chocolates.  Then we headed back to the hospital to find people to surprise.

We started in the radiology department.  My sister got radiation when she had brain cancer, so I know what it is like to sit in the waiting room chairs and hope that your loved one is going to be ok.  Our neighbor is currently undergoing treatment at Inova, and we drove him to a couple of appointments there, so we knew exactly where to head.

The kindness was simple – walk up to people and ask if they would like a snack. 

It turns out, that little act of kindness went a very, very long way.  People were delighted to be given a snack.  The vast majority said yes and eagerly made their choice.

But really, I think it was really about more than the food.

It was about someone acknowledging them.  Being willing to say hello.  Smiling.  Being present.

We gave treats to patients.  To family members.  To care givers.  We even gave a treat to someone who recognized us from a local Facebook group (how random).

If you have never had treatment for cancer or had a loved one who has, you may not know about “the bell”.  When a patient finishes their final treatment, they get to ring a big bell to announce that they are done.  Well, we were fortunate enough today to get to witness a woman ring the bell. 

She was wearing a hat – I am guessing she did not have hair.  She was a tiny woman, but her spirit was big.  She rang that bell and we hooted and cheered from all the way across the room.  And as we cheered, others in the waiting room felt they were granted permission to join in, too.  The patient hugged the person who was with her, likely her daughter or maybe sister.  They cried.  The nurses cried.  I cried.  Another woman in the waiting room cried.

Of course I offered the bell ringer some treats and congratulated her.

As I was walking back to my seat, that’s when someone said, “Excuse me, why are you doing this?”. 

They weren’t judging us or anything, they were just genuinely curious why two random strangers were hanging out in a lobby waiting for new patients to check in for their appointments.

I didn’t have a good answer ready.  So, I just said something like, “Oh, my husband had a doctor’s appointment in the building today, so we decided to pass out snacks while we were here.  We’ve been the people sitting in the chairs waiting, so we understand it is not easy.”

And that was a correct answer.

Sure, I could have also explained about Kindness Activist.  About how we find ourselves in situations like this very often.  How, because of amazing donors to our non-profit, we have money to do random acts of kindness like this and spread joy.

But none of that explanation was necessary really.

I guess the real answer to “Why are you doing this?” is:

Because we can.  Because we love to.  Because spreading kindness has become part of our lives, part of our DNA.  Because the world could use more kindness.

It doesn’t take a lot to be kind.

Just an open heart.

An open mind.

A bit of time.

A touch of courage.

A lot of compassion.

Perhaps some creativity.

And for sure some awareness.

Being kind makes the world a better place.

And sometimes, if you are lucky, being kind puts you in the exact right location at the exact right time, and you can cheer when somebody rings the bell.

Just be kind.

 

Kindness Activist funds spent:  $26.34

Hearts warmed:  around 50 (52 if you count our hearts)

P.S. - if you would like to donate to Kindness Activist, a 501C3, you can do so via Venmo (@KindnessActivist) or PayPal (@KindnessActivist).  Your donation is tax deductible and will be used to spread kindness in the world.

The Kindness Dance

Thanks to my friend Ixel, a flop became a hit.  And I am ever so happy and proud.

Last summer, I had the idea to recreate something fun that we did during Covid.  David and I would choreograph a dance, film us doing it (with instructions), post it to our neighborhood Facebook page, and neighbors would film themselves doing it.  They would then send their videos to me and I would edit them all together into one fun video.  It was so cool when we did it during Covid, I figured it was time to do it again!

Only, no one else figured it was time.

It flopped.  The only people who filmed themselves doing it were David and me (on the beach even!), and young friends Ixel and John (aka Baby John).  Baby John was really into the Charleston part, and Ixel was a specialist at the freestyle part (no choreography needed, the “do your own thing” part). 

But I figured I couldn’t make a video with just US and our 2 friends, so I dropped the whole idea.  It was, as they say, a kindness flop.  I was disappointed, but oh well.  Not all ideas work out.

Fast forward about 5 months…

Ixel mentioned “The Kindness Dance”.

I honestly didn’t know what she was talking about.  Kindness Dance???  New to me.

Only, it wasn’t new.  It was the dance from the summer, and in her mind, it was called The Kindness Dance. 

And she became fixated on it. 

She practiced her freestyle parts daily.

She made costumes.

She had a whole story line in her head.

And, one day, she proclaimed it was TIME to perform! 

“When is the Kindness Dance???” she asked me (a question I think she had been badgering her mom with quite a lot).

Well, ummm, I hadn’t thought of actually performing it.  I mean, it was supposed to just be a fun video thing…  But to actually perform it??

But Ixel would not take no for an answer.  She had plans.  In her mind, it was all ready for an audience!!

Only, we had no space…  And it is far too cold to do it outside…

She even picked a DATE!  Like, the girl was ready, and the whole back-end actual PLANNING and logistics hadn’t happened.

But the more her mom and I thought about it, the more we knew – the Kindness Dance was going to be a real live thing.

We booked a room at the local community center.  Ixel had told us she would need 3 hours to get ready, you know, what with make-up and costumes…  But the adults figured 2.5 hours total should do it. 

Ixel made a poster.

Kindness Activist was a co-sponsor, along with "Ixel's Ballet Studio"

She made a list of characters.

She made headpieces for many of the performers.

And she made AN ENTIRE OUTFIT!  Everything!  She made a leotard, a skirt, and a headpiece!  And folks, this was costume number TWO!  Yes, she had a costume change mid-song!  While us background dancers were grooving away, she ran to the side and pulled off costume number one, with the big reveal of costume number two!!!!  This girl was on fire!!

Tonight was the night.  She told me a couple of weeks ago that there would be “lots of people there to watch”, so I confess I was a bit nervous thinking that there might be more dancers on “stage” than there were butts in seats.  But I was wrong!  26 people (special invitation only) came out on this cold night to watch us (well, mostly to watch Ixel) dance to Bruno Mars singing “Uptown Funk” while disco lights shone.

Cast list (as you can see, David played the role of David)

Ixel wrote her own intro and delivered it with a microphone.

John, playing the role of the Crystal King, decided at the last minute that he would sit out (he complained that his crown was hurting his head, not sure if that was an excuse or not).  He sat down on stage as we danced, then ran around a bit 😊 . 

"Baby" John in crown handmade by his big sister

And Ixel.  Ixel was so happy. And so proud.  To see her shine like that – spinning and spinning and spinning.  It was beautiful (and not just the dancing, her heart was beautiful as well). 

Pre-show spinning

And her friends there supporting her – so sweet.  When the official performance was finished the dance floor opened up to all guests, and we rocked out.

Post-show dancing (costume number 3)

Tonight was a good lesson for me.  Sometimes even flops can turn into something special.  No, there was not a neighborhood video this time.  But the community came out, and the result was 100 times more special than planned.

The cast.  Crystal King minus his crown, Ixel in costume number 3, and me in costume number 2

Ixi as Sunshine

Susan as Flower and David as, well, as David

Oh, and hey.  As we were leaving tonight Ixel announced that the Kindness Dance is going to be an annual thing.

And you know, when Ixel says something, that girl makes it happen.

 

See you on the dance floor next year.

And now for your viewing pleasure, may I present, Ixel, starring in the Kindness Dance (not the whole dance)!

Kindness funds spent:  $67

P.S.- special shout out to the techie and DJ, Mac, for keeping the lights flashing and the music blasting.