Junior Kindness Activists (and much more)

I tried an interesting experiment recently.  I “hired” two Junior Kindness Activists.  This was a first!  I asked two neighbor kids, Kitcha and Sophie, if they would be willing to take on the task of being Kindness Activists.  I would fund their work via Kindness Activist – their job would be to decide how to use the $50 each that I gave them to spread kindness, and to write up the story on how they used it.

Junior Kindness Activists!

They are really smart kids.  I love having conversations with them and was eager to see how they would decide to spread kindness.   In conversations with their mother, I learned that they were having a difficult time deciding what to do to have the most impact.  WELCOME TO MY WORLD, KIDS!  It is one thing know that you have funds to spread kindness, it is quite another deciding the best way to responsibly use the money!! 

In the end they chose to work together.  Here are the stories of what they each did with the $100. 

Kitcha's Kindness

Sophie's Kindness - the back of the page said
"happy with my choice".

The organization they chose is:  https://www.heifer.org/  Please check it out, maybe you will want to donate, too!

And if YOU have a child who would like to be a Junior Kindness Activist and is willing to accept my challenge - $50 for them to use to spread kindness and they must write a story of what they did with it – please let me know!  It is inspiring sharing the concepts of kindness with children. 

Total spent:  $100

 

Acts of KINDNESS don’t have to be big.  No need to be flashy.  Really, any kindness given is always so appreciated.

We were grocery shopping this week, checking out in the self-check area.  I saw near us a woman was checking out her items – a bunch of bottles of Similac baby formula, a pack of strawberries, and a bag of ice.  As she finished ringing the items I stepped over and said, “I would like to get those for you please,” as I put my credit card in the card reader.  I could sense her huge smile under her mask.  “Oh my goodness!  Thank you!  It is food for my baby!  And strawberries for my son, who was home crying that he needed strawberries, so I came out to get them.  And ice for me…”.  I paid, she thanked me and said she was on the verge of tears.  See the thing is, it was not a huge deal.  She obviously had the money to pay for the items or she wouldn’t have been in line with them.  But she deserved some kindness.  We all do.  And her smile made me smile. 

We met up again in the parking lot – turns out we had parked right next to each other.  We chatted a little bit, then went on our ways.  But I like to think that her weekend just a little bit brighter – and a little bit better – after that interaction.

Total spent:  $44.22

I had a fun time surprising another shopper, too, this time in Trader Joe’s.  If you shop at TJ’s, you know that they have limited time products each season, and the winter holidays are when all of the exciting things come in!!!  Special cookies and chocolates and candles and toiletries are stocked for a limited time only.  Well, last year I got myself a Beauty Advent Calendar and had a great time with it.  You open one little door a day for 12 days and find a little beauty treat inside.  I was excited to see them at our local Trader Joe’s recently and got one for myself.  Then I had an idea and rushed back to grab one for a stranger.  But who to choose?

A woman was in line wearing scrubs and comfortable clogs – I figured she was a doctor, physician’s assistant, or nurse.  I decided she was the lucky target!  When it was her turn and she got to a register, I walked up and said, “I would like to give you an early Christmas gift!  This is already paid for.  Enjoy!” and showed the receipt to her cashier. 

I was greeted with another big smile (under a mask) and a THANK YOU!  I hope she has as much fun opening those little doors as I know I will.

Total spent:  $21.19

 

Kindness Activist supplied the neighborhood with PUMPKINS!  We made a pumpkin patch under the Little Yellow Free Pantry and encouraged passersby to take a pumpkin or gourd.  We have had a really warm Autumn here in Northern Virginia, and the orange of the pumpkins mixed with the red and gold leaves – all shining in the sun – was beautiful.  I lost count of how many pumpkins and gourds were given away, but safe to say it was a LOT! 

One of the spooky cookie haunted houses in the contest!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins!

We also hosted a pumpkin decorating contest and a haunted house cookie building contest (Kindness Activist supplied the cookie kits and pumpkins).  It was so fun seeing what kids came up with!  In the end, the judges had a hard time deciding…  I mean, how do you CHOOSE?  So, each entry got a ribbon (specially made by a neighbor!) and $2.

Two girls who became fast friends at the Fall Photo Event!

I also decided to celebrate Autumn by inviting people over to have their photos taken.  I asked local photographer Alex Sakes if he would do the honors, and then set up a little area in our yard for the photos.  We had a great time!!  Many people showed up and not only got their photos taken, but kids painted pumpkins, made bracelets, painted pictures, ate snacks, and played on the teeter-totter.  I heard many raves about how the photos came out, and I know that several families are going to use the pictures as their holiday cards!!  I hadn’t even recovered from hosting this event yet before people started reaching out and asking if there would be a winter photo session, too!  We shall see…

Our picture from the event

P.S. - Donations were accepted at the photo event, and people were very generous!  $884.79 was donated that day – so the Autumn celebration events paid for themselves (and then some for the Kindness Activist fund!).

Total spent on pumpkins (and more pumpkins!), mums, gourds, cookie kits, ribbons, prize money, and the photographer: $722.68

 

And finally for this report, I was moved when I saw this post today in my local Buy Nothing group:  “In Search Of women’s warm clothes in L/XL (sweaters, fall jackets etc). I’ve put on some post baby weight, plus meds for postpartum depression, and not much fits anymore. Thought I’d check here before purchasing. Thanks for considering.”

What an amazingly vulnerable ask to the community.  Depression, and mental illness in general, is not talked about enough in our society.  Postpartum depression is REAL, it is serious, and many, many women experience it.  I was very impressed that this neighbor opened up about her experience and I know that her willingness to do so likely helped other women who saw the post who are experiencing the same thing. 

Now, in our community, used clothes are passed around from neighbor to neighbor and cherished.  Heck, I am wearing a skirt and pair of boots I got from a neighbor right now!  But I really thought that the woman who posted deserved something NEW, too.  When children are young, most of the focus is on them and not the mom.  So, because of Kindness Activist funds, this new mom will be able to treat herself to some new clothes at one of her favorite stores, Uniqlo. 

Total spent:  $100

 

There you have it!  That’s today’s report on how some of the Kindness Activist funds are making their way back out into the world.  They are becoming kindness ripples – spreading a bit more kindness with each drop.

Cards of Kindness

Look, I am not naïve enough to think that a little kindness can put a dent in solving what is happening in our country right now.  It feels as if the world is on fire and no amount of kindness can put it out at this point.  Only equality and justice can begin to right these wrongs. 

But today is the first time in over a week that I have been able to focus.  It is the first time I have been able to think of action instead of anger.  Of fighting instead of crying.  So, I thought maybe a tiny dose of kindness was in order and that it might shine a little candlelight in this dark world.

This is a kind act done by a Facebook friend of mine, Katie.  I have met her a couple of times in person, she and I are both interpreters (American Sign Language/English), but mostly we know each other from social media.  A while back she messaged me and ask for my mailing address.  She said she wanted to send me a “Covid Card”.  Curious (and a lover of mail), I replied with my address.

Katie and her dog Collins ("Rent" fans will recognize that name!)

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I found THIS in my mail!!!!

Isn’t it fabulous????  It brightened my day so much!  I asked Katie if I could write about her project here, in the hopes that it might inspire someone else to do something as cool as she did.  Here’s what she told me.

“I love mailing and receiving cards and letters. It can connect you with people you’d never imagine connecting with. I have been struggling with my anxiety and mental illness since the stay at home orders began a couple months ago. I thought it would be helpful for me, and hopefully others, if I were to reach out on an individual level to the people in my life.”

Ok, yeah Katie.  I adore mail.  Like, I literally used to walk down 3 or 4 flights of stairs twice a day just to check and see if I had any mail (and I rarely did).  But that doesn’t mean I thought, “Hey, Susan, why don’t you mail out over 500 Covid cards to people….”.  Yes – you read that right.  She sent out over 500 cards!!  She said she sent 503, but with the stragglers the total will be closer to 505 or 510.  She sent them all over America (Alaska, New York, California, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and all around the east coast). A few lucky people in in England, Ireland, and Australia got them, too!

A playful side of Katie at Niagara Falls

Katie likes to send cards to her friends and family for their birthdays, so this project sort of grew out of that.  She was writing out the birthday cards for March and April, then, “…I remembered how fun it is (to send cards) and how much I enjoy it. I also happened to find a BUNCH of stamps and friendship cards just that month, so I had a lot to get started on without much investment up front. It began as mainly the people I write to on their birthdays. I enjoyed it so much and people were responding SO kindly to the idea, I reached out to as many people as I could on Facebook. I’ve reconnected with a ton of people from my high school!”.

Of course I asked Katie the obvious question, WHY DID SHE DO THIS GRAND GESTURE??  “Partially for my own mental health, but more so for those around me. I thought about doing it for strangers, but the closest I got to that was making one for each person in my apartment building; I don’t know all of those people very well. But I’ve realized what I was really looking for was connections through kindness.”  That’s profound…  And, in the end, I think it is what all of us are looking for – connections through kindness. 

One thing I so admire about Katie is her honesty about mental health.  She doesn’t cloak her mental illness, she talks about it.  Her diagnoses are Bipolar 2 and ADHD.  I think openness like hers is so needed.  If more people were willing to be frank, there would be no stigma attached to mental illness.  When I asked her how she has been doing during Covid 19 she said, “To be honest, not that great. I’ve had a number of mental and physical side effects due to the increased anxiety and stress from being quarantined. My psychiatrist has had to change my meds, which did help, but I’m extremely extroverted, so I need those connections to be more present in my life.”  Isn’t it great that she found a way to make those connections without endangering her health??  US Postal Service to the rescue!!!

The newest Kindness Activist - Katie

But gestures this grand don’t come free….  So, how much DID she spend??  “Oh gosh, I’ve honestly been trying NOT to calculate it, because I’m afraid it’s a good bit, and I haven’t been able to work (the unemployment office thinks it’s paying me, but they haven’t started my payments from when I set it up in April!). But it’s $0.59 per stamp, and in averaging out the MANY sets of greeting cards I had, I maybe spent $1-$2 on each card for each person. So, that’s like almost $800. But as I mentioned, I found a bunch of cards and stamps for probably close to 100 people, so I (hopefully) spent less than that.”

“For my next project,” Katie told me, “I’m going to frame all the cards I’ve received in return and put them on my bedroom wall to remember that there are lots of people out there that I’ve had an impact on.”  Well Katie, my return card (which will include your official Kindness Activist pin and a donation for stamps) will be mailed soon!!!  Thank you for being a source of KINDNESS in the world.

And to everyone else reading, let’s take a tip from Katie.  Maybe we won’t mail 500 cards, but even 3 or 4 would brighten people’s days.  And we all need a bit of kindness these days.