Back To School Time - Kindness Fund Update

It is almost the end of summer, and you know what that means…

BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!

In 2022, my partner David and I went to WalMart and used Kindness Activist funds to buy school supplies for LOTS of families.  It was so fun! 

Well, we were at WalMart the other day, and saw several families, lists of required supplies in hand, scouring the school supply aisle. 

But guess what?  We didn’t approach any of them and ask if Kindness Activist could treat them with an act of kindness…

That probably sounds strange.  But here’s the thing:  offering acts of kindness to strangers can be really tricky.  There are so many factors to consider:

-         You don’t want to scare them (after all, you are someone they have never met approaching them with an offer that sounds too good to be true…)

-         Sometimes you do not share a common language, so how will you explain this situation

-         How do you choose who you will treat when there are multiple families shopping for supplies?

-         And, to us, most importantly – how can you offer to buy their school supplies without making them feel like you think they need your charity, that they are poor, that they are “lesser than”?

So honestly, it is a hard thing to do.  You have to be feeling quite brave, open, vulnerable, and willing to be told no (multiple times) to successfully navigate this one.  And this time we failed.  We just couldn’t get the right combination of courage, heart, and determination. 

It is a bit like double dutch jump roping!  If you have ever tried that before you know it is really tricky and timing is everything.  You have to stand outside the ropes as your friends twirl them.  One, two, three…  One, two, three…  You might try jumping in and get the pattern wrong.  You might get your feet tangled in the ropes.  But it’s ok.  You just get yourself together and make another attempt. 

So, we have not treated anyone to impromptu school supplies yet this year, but we DO have other Kindness Activist activities/expenditures to share!

A neighbor posted online about a young woman that she mentors through the AHC (Affordable Homes and Communities) College and Careers Readiness Program. The woman was preparing to go off to college – the first person in her family to accomplish this amazing feat.  Her mentor had set up an Amazon wish list with items that the teen’s program, the Virginia Tech Marine Cadet Program, required new students to have for their dorm room. 

Well, because of the generosity of Kindness Activist supporters, we were able to give the soon-to-be Cadet MANY things from her wish list!  We donated these things she needed:

-         2 spray-on bottles of sun screen

-         2 travel size sun screens

-         2 sun screen lip balms

-         2 USB C adapters

-         Benadryl

-         USB flash drive

-         Moleskin

-         Markers

-         And an umbrella 

For information on the AHC College Readiness Program and to find out how YOU can be a mentor, see this link:  AHC College Readiness Program

Kindness Activist funds spent - $99.55

Wish for the college bound student – OOHORAH!  You go girl!

I saw a mamma post on Facebook looking for the book “How To Talk So Little Kids Will Listen”.  She has 3 little boys (one is an infant), so really has her hands full.  That was an easy wish to grant.  I just hope she can find enough quiet time to sit down and read it!

Kindness Activist funds spent - $12.14

 

A teacher was hunting for Magnatiles of animals.  She has an autistic student who loves them and knew that they would be a great reward. 

I had never heard of Magnatiles until a child asked for some a couple of years ago in his letter to Santa.  Santa bought them, I saw them, and was an immediate fan.  Those things are great!  Educational, artistic, and FUN!  They are everything a toy should be (in my humble opinion).  Kindness Activist was happy to shop for and donate these!

Kindness Activist funds spent - $42.39

 

And finally for this update – a teacher posted that they would like bean bag chairs for their classroom.  They were not fussy, said any color would do.  They were posting in a group (Buy Nothing) where people give away used things. 

But here’s the deal: teachers in America are over worked and under paid.  They often use their own money to buy supplies for their classrooms, which is unfair in my opinion.  Do doctors have to buy the examination tables for their offices?  Do bankers have to buy the filing cabinets for their documents?  Do car sales people have to buy the chairs that their customers sit on? 

No.  Yet teachers are expected to outfit their own classrooms.  Heck, I have seen teachers ask for coffee makers for the breakroom (and Kindness Activist has kitted out a couple of school breakrooms…).  It just isn’t fair.

So, this teacher was basically asking for used bean bag chairs for his students to sit on.  I did some snooping on his Facebook profile and found his Amazon wish list for his classroom from last year.  It had a bean bag listed, but also had some really cool stools…

I reached out to him and confessed I had peeked at his profile.  I explained a bit about Kindness Activist and asked if he still wanted the stools this year.  He DID still want them, but seemed a bit embarrassed or shy about asking for them.  They were more expensive than the bean bag chair, he explained.

Sir, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.  You deserve the stools, all the stools.  And the set of posters you had on last year’s list to help make your classroom look amazing.  And a Starbucks gift card (just in case your teacher’s lounge coffee maker is broken…).

I love the colors!

Kindness Activist funds spent:  $144.15

Amount of money I wish we could spend on helping teachers have a great start to the school year:  $5,000,000

You can see the story of how we treated back-to-school shoppers at WalMart in 2022 here:  Back To School Kindness

Food Truck Kindness (and More!)

One of the major concepts of Kindness Activist is that EVERYONE deserves and could use kindness.  That’s the reason that Kindness Activist is magic based.  There are many, many other organizations that are needs based – giving funds or items to people in hard financial times.  And yet, sometimes those two concepts – magic based and needs based – overlap.  And the results are lovely.

The first story of Kindness Activist funds being used in this story is purely magic based. 

My partner David is a performer and has toured the world with his shows.  One place he has performed a few times and we have made some dear friends is Orlando, Florida.  So, when we knew we would be near Orlando during the infamous Orlando Fringe Festival, we made sure to grab tickets to some shows and attend!

Between shows, patrons and artists hang out on what I think used to be called (during “our time” at the festival) the “Green Lawn of Fabulousness”.  It is effectively a large green park-like area with food trucks all around, a beer tent, a performance area, and tables and chairs for people to sit, eat, drink, and chat.  On our drive to Orlando I had an idea:  I would work with a food truck vendor to surprise guests with free food!! 

So, after we had seen a couple of great shows and eaten our lunch, I set about choosing a vendor…  The man who had served us our food was super friendly and I knew would go along with this harebrained idea, but his truck was not very visible from the main seating area, and I wasn’t sure how busy it would be. 

Now you should know that when I give talks about Kindness Activism, one thing I mention is that you have to be prepared to “get dirty” when you spread kindness.  Not in the physical, mud on your shirt sort of way, but in an emotional sense.  Because kindness can be messy.  And it can be awkward.  In fact, during my most recent presentation on K.A., one of the questions asked by a young woman was, “But, what if you offer kindness to someone, and they do not want it?  What if they say no?”.  I told her, “Yes, that will happen.  People will refuse the kindness you offer sometimes.  And that is a-ok!  Maybe they are having a bad day.  Maybe they are leery of strangers.  Maybe they are just not in the mood.  But when that happens, just roll with it.  Be ok with that.  And offer your kindness to someone else”. 

But it is one thing to teach that concept, and quite another thing to put yourself into it.  And I have been in that situation enough times to know that it makes me uncomfortable and honestly, makes me feel like a bit of a failure.  So, I had to work up a bit of courage to approach the food truck vendor that I knew could be the “right partner” for me…  It was a cheery little truck near a well-travelled area.  It served items that patrons wanted on a warm day – fresh lemonade, flavored shaved ice, fried Oreos, funnel cakes…  But I hadn’t met the vendor yet, and honestly, from what I watched from a distance, I was afraid he might be a little cranky…

So, I worked up a bit of courage and approached him… 

“How can I help you?” he asked as I got to the truck.

“Hi!  I don’t need to order anything, but I would like to work with you if possible…  I run an organization called Kindness Activist.  We do creative fundraising, and then spend all of the money raised to SPREAD KINDNESS.  I would love to pay for the next $100 worth of orders for your customers,” I explained.

He was a bit stunned.  And confused.  And it turned out he wasn’t alone, his wife was in the truck, too (I hadn’t seen her before), and she wasn’t quite grasping the concept either.  So, I explained again.

“Wait, what?  HOW?” they asked.

I told them that if they could just keep ringing in customer orders until they hit $100, I would give them my credit card (shows credit card so they see I am legit 😊 )!!  And I gave them my business card, so they could see Kindness Activist was a real thing.  They were still a bit confused.  “You can charge the $100 now if you like, if that would make it easier.  Then just serve people until you hit that amount…” I offered.

“NOW???” he said, still very leery.

“Yes sir.  I TRUST YOU,” I countered.

And that was the moment a partnership was born.  My new food truck friends were ALL IN.

They let me join them inside their food truck!!  My new friends

The vendor handed me a stack of tiny yellow coupons, each one worth $1 off any item.  “Give people these!” he instructed.  “We will take $1 off of everything!”.  Oh, he was down with the plan.  He was excited.

I stood near his sign and as people walked by, I chatted with them – “Hey!  This guy is giving people a buck off with this coupon!  They have great fried Oreos!” was my usual line (in all honesty – I love fried Oreos, and I think I ate some from this truck years ago). 

LET'S DO THIS!

And one by one, people got in his line.  Singles.  Couples.  Families. 

I didn’t tell them their food would be free, I told them they would get a dollar discount.  But my new friend was psyched to explain to them there would be no charge!!  This was strange territory for him, and he was digging it!!  After the guests got their orders, he would always point to me and instruct them to, “Be sure to thank THAT LADY!  She paid!!”. 

Another of the key concepts of Kindness Activist is that the people who receive kindness (the lucky folks who got free food), the people who witness kindness (their friends they told when they walked around the festival), and the readers of the kind stories (YOU!) will be hit by a “kindness ripple”.  That those people may be inspired to go out and spread kindness, too.

But I hadn’t planned for the food truck vendors themselves to be hit with such a large ripple.  They were soooo exited to be caught up in this act of kindness!!  When we hit $100 they let me know and ran the credit card.  Even though perhaps a half an hour had gone by since we began our secret mission, they were still a bit dumbfounded by it all.  And in fact, the man who I feared might be a bit cranky had the softest heart.  “In all my 17 years of doing this, I have never had anything like this happen…” he said, with tears welling up in his strong eyes. 

I know that the vendors will re-tell that story of kindness.  They will explain how a complete stranger approached them.  How she handed out coupons for them.  How customers were so excited to get their shaved ice for free.  And how, even though they had not had a profitable week because of rain and wind keeping them from opening most days, that Saturday the sun shone and the kindness flowed. 

Outback Snack Shack

Kindness Activist funds spent:  $100

 

This story of accounting of Kindness Activist funds mixes magic with need. 

In the five years since we began fundraising for kindness, one thing I have learned is that those who have the least often give the most.  They may not give the most in terms of monetary amount, but they give what they have, and it inspires me to no end.

The people I am talking about are the guests who do not have enough food for their tables, so they come to the Little Yellow Free Pantry to supplement what they get at other food pantries.  Only, instead of only taking, they give.  If they have received something as a gift or from another pantry that they do not need for their cupboards, they bring it to the Little Yellow Free Pantry and donate it for others. 

These are the people who do not have a vehicle so rely on public transportation, but if a neighbor is in need, they will spend hard earned money to get on the bus and go to them and help out.

These are the people who, instead of gifts of money or items, offer the most precious gift of all:  their time and assistance. 

I saw one of these such beautiful demonstrations of giving online recently.  A community member commented on a post about something she had recently done.  It was a simple gesture, but one many wouldn’t think to do.  She had given what she had.  Given from her heart.  And it made me so happy.

I know that she relies on public transportation, so I messaged her and explained that Kindness Activist would like to give her some money to top up her bus card.  She was very thankful, but explained that, because of her age, she was able to ride the bus for half price and her bus card was quite good for the time being. 

But although her bus card was funded, she had another worry.  She wrote, “My current anxiety is the country’s debt crisis.  I depend totally on social security payments, and while I can pay my rent next week from my savings, I am scared about not being paid (Social Security) in June and not being able to pay July’s rent”. 

Oh, my heart.

When I hear the stories of the economic situation in the USA, it feels abstract.  The numbers thrown about in the newspaper and on the news are far too large for my brain to comprehend.  But THIS, this example of a real person who lives in our community, this made the dire situation all too clear to me:  if the government cannot agree on a resolution, this woman and many, many others, will not be able to pay her rent.  They may be evicted.

I told her that I had been planning to give her $100 to add to her bus card, and that I would be happy to give the same amount for her to use for whatever she needed.  She was so thankful.  “That would be such an enormous blessing!” she wrote.  “I would accept that amount and sit on it while holding my breath – only figuratively that is”.

Kindness Activist sent the funds her way. 

May we all cross our fingers and hold our breath (only figuratively) that somehow, someway this country figures out a way to get our fiscal house in order. 

Kindness Activist funds spent:  $100

 

And finally for this report, a story of kindness in a classroom.

The school year is almost done, but that doesn’t mean that teachers (underpaid and underfunded) have enough to finish out the year with their students.  One local teacher recently posted this:

“In search of crayons for my elementary students!  By the end of the year, our crayons are looking pretty sad.  Even if you have gently used crayons that your kids no longer use, they would be greatly appreciated.”

Well, if there is one thing I know, it is that NEW CRAYONS are amazing.  The colors!  The perfect tips!  The smelllll….  So, this was an easy ask to decide to fulfill.

Two Amazon deliveries later (oh how I wish Amazon could bring everything at once…) the classroom had a BIG box of 400 bright color chunky crayons and 48 multicultural color crayons (that represent the rainbow of skin colors in our world - oh how I wish these had been around when I was a kid). 

Can't you just SMELL them....

Image by Crayola

Color on, my little friends.  Fill the world with art.

Kindness Activist funds spent:  $97.04

Back To School Kindness

Hot date Saturday night here!  We went to Walmart for some BACK-TO-SCHOOL SHOPPING!! 

But not for us, for strangers.  School in this area starts on Monday.  Would there be any last-minute shoppers???  You bet there were! 

We started the adventure by strolling around the school supplies aisle to see if there was anyone we could treat.  The parameters were simple:  the student should be present, and the recipients should be diverse.   I fished my wish!!  There were lots of shoppers and they were indeed diverse.  We treated people who were Hispanic, African American, Nepalese, white, and Jamaican.

Anyone need a new backpack?

We ended up with 8 separate orders at the cash registers, but most orders were for multiple students.  We had:  an adorable kindergarten girl with beautiful braids, brothers who looked like twins but weren’t going into 1^st and 2^nd grades, a girl going into her senior year, a little girl going into 1^st grade who talked so quietly I could barely hear her, a 2^nd grade teacher, a girl going into 9^th grade, and more!  It was so fun!

Here are some stats of what was purchased:

-         9 boxes of crayons in various forms

-         6 backpacks

-         52 composition books

-         10 packs of filler paper

And lunch boxes and water bottles and pencils (oh looooads of pencils!) and erasers and highlighters and scissors and Kleenex and Clorox wipes and rules and staples and pencil cases (including several kids who picked my favorite one with pop-its on it!) and pens and mechanical pencils and Elmer’s glue and glue sticks (including the shy girl who picked the scented glue sticks that I recommended, cuz, duh, SCENTED!!!), and 3 ring binder and plastic folders and spiral notebooks and markers (including the girl who got a great pack of Sharpies that I secretly coveted) and post-it notes and dividers and a badge holder and dry erase markers and more and more and more until our eyes were popping out of our heads!!  It was brilliantly fun!

I have always loved school supplies.  They are so shiny and bright when they are brand new.  They practically scream new possibilities!  So, it was an honor to be able to treat so many kids to what they need to start the year off right. 

Sometimes when we do a Kindness Activist act, people are hesitant to accept the gift and say no.  But on this adventure not a single person rejected the gift of school supplies!  The parents were soooo appreciative, too.  One mother had been struggling to make ends meet due to a shoulder injury keeping her off work.  One dad had just had Covid and relocated his family.  Two moms cried at the check-out.  One mom’s eyes got so big when I said, “OK, those are the supplies on the list.  Now, does he need a backpack?  A lunch bag??”.  Mom gently nodded her head yes, and off her son and I went to choose the ones he wanted.

As I was ringing up one woman’s cart (the only person who did not have a child with them), I asked what grade her child would be in.  She said, “Oh, my kids are in college…  But I am a 2^nd grade teacher…”.  Well then, kids who show up to that classroom without the needed supplies will have a stash to choose from!

All in all, we rang out 8 separate orders (but served many more than 8 students as most orders were for more than one child).  We spent an average of $121.09 on each order.  School supplies are not cheap!  We were thanked repeatedly, God blessed often, given handshakes, and even hugs.  One delighted recipient asked hopefully, “Will you be here again next year??”.

No ma’am, we probably won’t be in this same store for back-to-school shopping next year.  But I can promise you that we will be somewhere, spreading kindness and then sharing the stories of it.  So be on the look-out! 

School shopping is exhausting!

Total Kindness Activist funds spent -  $1089.79

P.S. – also purchased for students on this shopping trip but not directly school supply related:  two packs of underwear and one small Anna from Frozen doll 😊