2022 Kindness Yard Sale TOTAL!!

There are fund raisers, and there are FUND RAISERS.

And the 2022 Kindness Yard Sale was a FUND RAISER!

And now that the chaos of the sale is (mostly) over, we took tonight to celebrate. We thanked many of the amazing people who have helped out with Kindness Activist projects – not only the yard sale, but many other things, too.  We held a thank you party at Acme, our local pie shop run by the very sweet Sol Schott.  The restaurant was closed so it was just US – eating pie, chatting, laughing, playing pinball, writing down ideas on how to spread kindness using the funds we just raised, and getting “gifts” of leftover items from the yard sale (anyone need a car cell phone charger from 1992???). 

We also had the big reveal – the announcement of how much was raised at the Kindness Yard Sale, including the online auction and the in-person auction.  So many people have been asking, “How much did we raise???”, and it seemed fitting to announce it at a gathering of so many people who rolled up their sleeves and made the work successful.

I am pleased and proud to announce that the 2022 Kindness Yard Sale (and auctions) raised a total of $27,871!!!!!  That is so, so much more than I could’ve ever imagined – we more than doubled the total from 2021!

The assistants help out with the BIG REVEAL!

That money will go such a very long way in spreading kindness!  I have many, many ideas swirling around in my head on how we can start kindness ripples, and I can’t wait to read the ideas people at the event wrote down tonight.  

A few more photos from the thank you party:

                                                     

Here is how we have already begun spreading kindness with this year’s funds:

We actually started using the 2022 funds before the sale was even over!!  A group of high school students in Wakefield t-shirts were looking around the sale.  They chose some items, and when they came up to purchase them, I asked, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be out fund raising for your music program today??? (someone had told me that was their day to ask the community to donate)”.  OOPS – they got caught shopping!  But all was well – we rang the cowbell, turned on the gold microphone, people cheered, and Kindness Activist made a $25 donation to the Wakefield Music Program! 

Total spent:  $25 

Another related to the Kindness Yard Sale; my friend Whitney was volunteering in the in-person auction area at the sale.  One of the items up for auction was a tv that had been donated.  It was nice – had a large screen – but was not a “smart” tv.  Some people signed up to bid on it, including a man that Whitney told me was really nice.  She had talked to him and his family and she said they were super sweet and seemed very deserving of a television (they currently didn’t have one).  Well, he didn’t win the tv in the auction.  But that was a-ok, because we used Kindness Activist funds to get him a brand new smart tv!!  He was very surprised and thankful when he came over to pick it up.

 

A brand new smart TV!

Total spent:  $321.59

We were at Trader Joe’s at closing time recently and decided to treat someone in line to their groceries.  I bought a $50 gift card and then perused the line to pick a lucky person to give it to.  As I was wondering who to choose, a woman in line spoke to me about something I was purchasing.  She was chatty and nice, and that made it easy to know who to surprise with the gift card!!  It was also fun that the groceries she had in her cart looked like they would total right around $50.  She couldn’t believe what had happened to her!  As we left I saw her telling an employee about her good fortune 😊 .

A gift card for one lucky shopper!

Total spent:  $50

And finally for this report, FLOWERS.  A neighbor has been studying to be a nurse and it came time for her to take the big exam.  She was understandably nervous for the test and studied a lot the month before.  So, we used $80 of Kindness Activist funds to get her a huge bouquet of gorgeous flowers to wish her well. 

 

Total spent:  $80

I owe a huge, huge thank you to so many people.  Thank you to all of you who:

Donated items

Sorted items

Hung clothing

Organized storage units

Hauled from storage to sale

Got us a free storage unit

Put up a whole auction website

Made signs

Set up sale

Sold lemonade

Worked at sale

Shopped at sale

Tore down sale

Sorted empty hangers

Broke down boxes

Hauled trash

Fed us

Supported us – kept me from pulling all of my hair out

Took great photos

Donated food for the Little Yellow Free Pantry

Organized storage for the Little Yellow Free Pantry

Filled the pantry when we were out of town

Grew plants

Sold plants

Suggested ideas for kindness

Brought us wine

Supported me when internet bullies were being mean

Entertained with jokes and magic tricks

Sent encouraging messages

Wrapped tons of Christmas gifts

Cleaned our porches

Hauled things to Goodwill, Little Free Libraries, and other places

Interpreted

Made phone calls for me to people who I couldn’t communicate with

Did grocery runs for special requests that came into the pantry

Helped decide the value of items (thanks to Google)

Came to vigils

Danced on corners

Voted in the daily polls

Helped Kindness Activist get more media attention

Suggested great ideas

And I am sorry to anyone who worked long and hard volunteering but got missed on the invite list for the thank you party tonight.  The pie shop is small – we might need a bigger venue for the 2023 thank you event!

PIE It Forward! Kindness Yard Sale 2020 Accounting Update

There’s a lot of negativity going around lately, what with Covid raging and the election almost a week away. So, I thought I should take a moment to update you on how I have used more of the money raised at the Kindness Yard Sale! Nothing like a bit of KINDNESS to take the edge off of a tense time. First off – PIES! “What??” you wonder. “Pies? What does PIE have to do with kindness?”. Well, I PIED IT FORWARD! More specifically, I went into our amazing local pie shop, Acme Pie, and left 2 cards (each with $40 in them) for the next 2 pie shoppers to come in. I figured the shoppers could get their pie with that money and use the left-over money to spring for some ice cream to put on top of the pie, a cheap bottle of wine to drink with it, or whatever else they wanted! I have no idea who came in after me to find that their pie had already been paid for, but I can only imagine it brought a smile to their face. 

Total spent: $80

Acme Pies in Arlington, VA are the BEST!

Next up – COFFEE! A neighbor is on furlough due to the pandemic, so has limited funds for groceries. The local grocery store had an amazing sale on bags of coffee, it was “buy 2, get 3 free”!!! PLUS we had a coupon! Well, I couldn’t pass that up! So we got lots and I left the bags of coffee on the neighbor’s doorknob. Boy was she happy. She said she would have enough coffee to last a good long time. 

Total spent: $16 

See this girl? Her name is Bella and she is 14 years old. Not only is she smart, she is also an entrepreneur. She has opened her own online business selling earrings that she creates from fun stuff!!! I donated $50 of the Kindness Yard Sale funds to help her buy more knick-knacks to create earrings. I wish her and her new earring shop well! If you are in the market for funky earrings, you can find her work here:  Bella's Earring Shop

Total spent: $50 

Bella and her dog

I am a sign language interpreter. Professionals in my field, like many others, have been hit hard by the pandemic. Many interpreters freelance – going to doctor appointments, therapy, business meetings, etc. And many of the settings where they normally work have been closed since March. This has meant no income. So, I used some of the yard sale money to donate to a fund started by RID (Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf). The money will be used to support interpreters in need. I am proud I am proud to say that as of tonight, 27 donors have raised over $6000 for the fund. If you would like to contribute to this fund, go here: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/registry-of-interpreters-for-the-deaf/covid-19-certified-interpreter-relief-fund Because interpreters are ESSENTIAL. 

Total spent: $50.40 

Image from the RID campaign

The other day I took myself out for breakfast at my favorite local coffee shop for the first time since Covid began. I sat at an outside table, but while I was inside waiting on my order I noticed a woman organizing school supplies by putting them into tote bags. She told me that her name was Anika and that she was starting a non-profit to help underserved youth in our community. She had run a Go Fund Me campaign, hoping to raise a lot of money to buy new school supplies for kids’ whose families could not afford them. Her Go Fund Me did not reach the goal she had hoped, but she was marching on anyway, making as many supply bags as she could. That sounded like just the kind of project that the kindness money was raised for, so I gave her $20 toward her cause. 

Total spent: $20 

Specially packed bags of brand new school supplies ready to be delivered

A woman in our county, Jaimee Wise, recently had a brain aneurism. Luckily, her young son noticed there was a problem and got help quickly. She is in a coma and the family will have a lot of medical bills, so $100 of the Kindness Yard Sale money went to a Go Fund Me for Jaimee. If you would like to help out, too, you can find the information here:  Go Fund Me for Jaimee Wise

Total spent: $100 

This is Tri. She lives in my community. She recently took a big step and sat for her lactation consultant exam. She, like me, is a nervous test taker. So BEFORE her test some Kindness money was used to get her a multi-amazonite bracelet (with the hopes the “woo woo energy” in it would help her be calm and take her test (the website says, If your nervous system tends to run away like wild horses over the hills, this Multi Amazonite Energy Bracelet is the ticket to temperance, hope and a happy can-do attitude. Amazonite is known as The Hope Stone, and this bracelet is comprised of specially selected stones that ebb and flow like sunlight on water and a thousand grains of sand on the shore.” Then, for AFTER her exam, I used a bit of money to get her a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate. She doesn’t get her results until December, but I have a good feeling that she passed. 

Total spent: $23.99 

Tri, soon-to-be LACTATION CONSULTANT!

That’s it for now. More stories coming soon, including a re-telling of a recent Kindness Activist fundraiser – 2020 Sucks Bingo!! Until then, please keep spreading kindness. The world really needs it these days.  And if you know of someone that could use a little kindness, send me an email at:  kindnessactivist@gmail.com.  I am always looking for good ways to throw kindness around like glitter.