Ways to help

I've received a lot of great ideas for surprising people with kindess, thanks so much! I really enjoy hearing all the wonderful stories about giving back and if you have one yourself, please share it here. Some people I've talked to struggled with how they would help or who they would help for that matter. A good friend Brian recommended organizing some donations and I think it's an awesome idea! I've learned about a lot of individuals that are definitely in need of some Acts of Kindness and so I am going to start fundraising for them. The first person I wanted to help is a teacher in Detroit, who works with visually impaired children in an inner city school and has used most of her income helping them with basic necessities. I am collecting more info about her classroom and what types of items she needs and will post that as soon as I get it. I will be adding a Donate link soon so we can start paying it forward. If you have any charity suggestions, please post them here. As soon as we reach this goal, I will be adding a new charity. More details coming soon. Thanks!

Ideas

I had a wonderful response to yesterday's post from family and friends! I am so excited to start this but a little overwhelmed by where to begin. I've searched the internet for ideas and  I was surprised to see how the 26 Acts movement has grown. There are really a lot of awesome Random Acts of Kindness that you can "commit"! We spent the night making a list of ideas (which will appear in a later post), and printing these forms to hand out with our gifts. ( the link to their Facebook page is on the bottom) I'm very proud to be a part of it and can't wait for tomorrow to start giving back.

One Random Act of Kindness

A quick trip to the grocery store led to a major revelation: everything happens for a reason. I have suspected this to be true for a long time but what happened today verified it. I was actually really angry and a road trip was the LAST thing I wanted to do today. I was tired, it was freezing outside, and to top it off I had a migraine that wouldn't end. A ridiculous fight about a bag a frozen nuggets led me to take the kids to the store to replace them with another brand. On our way out of the store, I saw this sign on the candy machines. It was a small poster with a bunch of quarters duct taped to it that read: " 26 Random Acts of Kindness. In honor of the lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary. ♥Pay It Forward♥" The boys happily got their prizes and we got back in the car. They beamed all the way home because we rarely "waste" money on the machines. It really was a treat. I felt so bad about being cranky about something so trivial as chicken and letting my sour mood affect everyone around me. My mood completely changed. Over a quarter. It sounds ridiculous but how could I not be happy seeing their faces light up over something so small.  And I couldn't believe someone in our small town of Hartville had done that. I read a lot of stories online about people committing "random acts of kindness" but I don't really know many people that have personally received a gift like that. It made me happy and sad at the same time. So I decided that we were going to dedicate the whole year to giving back. Twenty six acts a month, no matter how small will remind us to be thankful for what we have and to share it with others. I made a small donation to the Newtown community when we got home. I had wanted to make a contribution when I first heard about the tragedy but didn't think my small donation would even make a difference. And now I know every penny counts. I invite you to take this journey with me and commit 26 random acts of kindness yourself. And if you do, please share your stories with me. I would love to hear any ideas or suggestions you have. Spread the joy!