Random Acts of Kindness Week 2 of 52 - You can still jump in! :)

[NanceXToo]

Last week, the week of Thanksgiving, we started our "Random Act of Kindness A Week for 52 Weeks" Challenge.

 

To reiterate, it doesn't matter how big or how small your Random Act of Kindness is over any given week. The idea is to just improve somebody's life, mood, spirits, week, or day in some way, no matter how big or small. Happiness is contagious. By doing nice things for other people, you're bound to make not just them feel good, but yourselves, too! And by involving the kids, the whole family, you'll be making THEM feel good, and teaching them to do good, too...it's a win/win!

 

It doesn't matter who the recipient is. It can be a friend, a relative, someone in your own household, a complete stranger, an animal friend. It can be someone truly needy, or truly deserving, or it may be one of those weeks where it is just someone you allow in front of you on the checkout line. Just DO something to brighten somebody's day each week.

 

I hope you'll join in on this challenge and post to the threads I'll be posting each week to let us all know what you did!

 

This way, we can offer each other accountability to continue on with the challenge, inspiration as we give each other new ideas, can share fun stories of what we did and how people reacted and so on, and, okay, give each other a little bit of well-deserved recognition, too. :)

 

This is the place to chat this week, which runs from Sunday, November 27 to Saturday, December 3rd. Come share your ideas, ask for ideas, tell us about the things you end up doing, comment on other people's stories, and so on.

 

Can't wait to hear from you!

[TammyinTN]

I love this! :D

 

 

Tomorrow we leave Germany. I have tons of groceries, appliances and furniture left. I called all my neighbors and told them I was having a Sunday give away. They were all thrilled to be getting things they could use and I loved knowing I was making them smile. Giving with the desire for nothing in return is such an awesome feeling.

[sagira]

Love this idea! Will definitely incorporate one random act of kindness a week. Hmmm.. What shall I do this week? Looking for opportunities every day..

[Mommyfaithe]

We had a sad random act of kindness this week. A poor kitty was hit by a car right by our house. We were able to keep him comfortable until our animal control lady came and took him to the shelter. The poor kitty had a broken spine.....please drive carefully.

 

Faithe

 

Eta: We are definitely in for the Random Acts of Kindness for 52 weeks....I love this idea.....and thanks for posting.

[SailorMom]

Well - after driving 2000 miles in about 9 days (we went to DC and back for the holidays) most of mine have been car related :)

We let trucks merge so they didn't have to slow down on hills, let many people get in front of us, and never tailgated :)

I also gave an enormous tip to a really nice young lady at a restaurant in TN.

[A.J. at J.A.]

I'm going to leave a box of Purex 3-in-1 at the local laundromat. It is currently on sale at Walgreens for $4.99 a box (which serves 22 loads). I loved those sheets when we were on vacation.

 

Blessings,

Angela

[Jean in Newcastle]

We visited the emergency vet that saved our dog Libby's life after her car accident 3 months ago. Libby visited as an alumnus;) and got lots of pats. We were dropping off her now unneeded puppy pee pads and doggie diapers for other injured dogs to use.

[NicAnn]

Last week I stuck some free coffee coupons in the mail box for our mail man. We had a really big cold snap that took everyone by surprise.

 

Great idea. We would love to do this as well.

[NanceXToo]

Tammy,

That's great that you gave it all it away instead of doing a yard sale type thing! How exciting to finally be coming home!

 

Faithe,

Aww that's so sad. :( I'm glad it didn't have to suffer alone.

 

Kristy,

I'm sure a lot of people appreciated those traffic courtesies because a lot of people don't extend them! And I KNOW a generous tip is always appreciated after hearing from my waitress SIL how tough things are these days!

 

Angela,

How cool! I'm so glad my own laundromat days are long over but that would have been cool, I'm sure it will be appreciated! Going to put one of those "Please enjoy this random act of kindness" signs on it so people know they can use it?

 

Jean,

That is cute about the alumnus! I am glad Libby is ok now! Good way to make use of the unused dog items!

 

Nicole,

Cool, my mail lady is on my eventual list of someone to do something for too!*

 

I am still unsure of what we will be doing this week, we will see what opportunities and inspirations arise. :)

[A.J. at J.A.]

Tammy,

 

Angela,

How cool! I'm so glad my own laundromat days are long over but that would have been cool, I'm sure it will be appreciated! Going to put one of those "Please enjoy this random act of kindness" signs on it so people know they can use it?

 

 

 

Yep! I'm trying to attach my file with the RAOK note. It is just a Word document, so it could be altered if someone wanted to change it.

 

ETA: OH well - I can't get it to upload.

 

Blessings,

Angela

Edited November 27, 2011 by A.J. at J.A.

[MamaAkins]

We were shopping at Walmart earlier today. We were looking for Christmas lights. The middle aged lady that was working to restock the picked-over shelves in the Christmas decor section looked frazzled. As she turned away with lots of empty cardboard boxes stuffed into one larger box, the side of it broke and the cardboard went all over. I bent down and helped her pick them all up. I told her how a similar incident happened to me at the recycling center recently. When we stood up from gathering all the cardboard, she thanked me. I gave her a nice smile and told her that it was my pleasure to help her. I couldn't believe how many people walked around us or over us, but not a single person tried to help.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I dropped a small gift for a boy and a girl in the toys for tots box today......

[Heather in Neverland]

We get paid this Wednesday and when we do we are giving our amah (nanny/maid) 2000 to pay for her daughter's college tuition. She never went to school herself (of any kind) and desperately wants something more for her children but her husband is injured and can't work so it is all on her. She is so worried about how to pay it and it is due next week. We are calling it her Christmas bonus because we don't want her to feel shame. I can't wait. We love her so much!

[----]

.

[NanceXToo]

Jenn,

Aw, love that you stopped and helped her. I've never seen anybody bother to help an employee in a store like Walmart.

 

Julie,

Nice of you to do a toy for each!

 

Heather,

That's awesome, that's going to mean so much to her, I can't wait to hear about her reaction!

 

Amana,

Aww that is so sad and sweet all at the same time about your elderly neighbor!

 

Well so far this week the random act of kindness gets credited mainly to my hubby. He cooked us chicken soup and latkes last night (yum)! He only makes latkes maybe twice a year and we all love them! Anyway, almost nobody around here ever heard the word latkes but they know them as "bleenies" and stand on line for them forever at street fairs. My next door neighbor loves them, so my husband made some extra and brought them over to her and her family last night. We will keep an eye out for further opportunities. :)

[Parrothead]

I'd rather not say exactly what it was I did but I helped out someone with Christmas gifts.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I forgot to post last week. I raked some of my neighbor's leaves. Would have liked to do all, but ran out of time before the pouring rain. We also delivered Meals on Wheels on Thanksgiving, but we do that every year. I want to get the kids involved and we talked about it last week, but I didn't make sure they did something, either with me or on their own.

[Chelle in MO]

I love reading these! You guys are so generous!

 

My dh volunteered to do appliance repair for someone we don't know.

 

I kept a friend's 2 kids today while she did a few errands.

 

Who's next? :bigear:

[AndyJoy]

There is a dumpster near my grocery store where I sometimes see a man or a couple sitting with a sign asking for food. Today it was a man and I left him a bag of apples, bread, and peanut butter.

[kalanamak]

I fear my answer is going to start getting boring. I decided to bring 4 loaves of homemade bread into work every week: one to each ward I cover, and the extra to a deserving person (having a tough week) or ward (having a tough week).

[Jean in Newcastle]

Took some books/magazines that were too full of American pop culture references to send to Liberia (where I am sending a big shipment of books) to the library to donate to the Friends of the Library sale.

[*Inna*]

I gave away some curricula to two homeschooling moms after hearing that they needed it. I had the books and kits on my bookshelf, waiting for the "perfect moment" for our family (which may never actually come).

 

DH took a day off to play classical guitar at the Ladies Christmas Tea. It's becoming a tradition. :001_smile:

[Dolphin]

I don't know if mine counts this week. A friend e-mailed as her ride had fallen through and asked if I could pick her up at 9:30 at night. Every part of me wanted to say no, past my bedtime etc... but I said yes. I said "Of course, I would love too". Then today she texted to say that her original ride came through.

 

Does that count? If not, I need a new idea STAT as I am leaving town tomorrow. Also, what is a good random act to perform while on vacation? We will be in Philadelphia, dh has a conference, so, I am thinking...Field Trip:lol:

[Chelle in MO]

I don't know if mine counts this week. A friend e-mailed as her ride had fallen through and asked if I could pick her up at 9:30 at night. Every part of me wanted to say no, past my bedtime etc... but I said yes. I said "Of course, I would love too". Then today she texted to say that her original ride came through.

 

Does that count? If not, I need a new idea STAT as I am leaving town tomorrow. Also, what is a good random act to perform while on vacation? We will be in Philadelphia, dh has a conference, so, I am thinking...Field Trip:lol:

 

Sure, it counts! I'd count it for extra points because you said yes when you really wanted to say no! ;) Glad it worked out for both of you!

 

As for Philly...since it's on your mind, I'm sure someone will come across your path and you'll know just how to bless them!

 

My ds 16 tutored ds15's friend in geometry today (no charge), using up his only hour of free time for the day!

[DawnM]

So, this can be something that the person will know you did it for them? It doesn't have to be secret?

 

I have no problem with people not knowing I did it for them, but I struggle to figure out how to make it secret many times!

 

I will join in. A friend needs some items for her KA mixer and her DH just lost his job.

 

I found the said items on CL and will be shipping them out today.

 

Dawn

[CanaryMelody]

On Tuesday, I baked some pumpkin bread for our horse trainer. She has really taken my oldest DD under her wing and takes special notice of her. She encourages and challenges her. We really appreciate our horse trainer and are blessed to have her in our lives. :001_smile:

[NanceXToo]

I'd rather not say exactly what it was I did but I helped out someone with Christmas gifts.

 

Cool. :) It's fine to be more vague about it if you prefer!

 

I forgot to post last week. I raked some of my neighbor's leaves. Would have liked to do all, but ran out of time before the pouring rain. We also delivered Meals on Wheels on Thanksgiving, but we do that every year. I want to get the kids involved and we talked about it last week, but I didn't make sure they did something, either with me or on their own.

 

Meals on Wheels is something I'd like to look into at some point, too! Looking forward to hearing some of the things the kids come up with in the future!

 

I love reading these! You guys are so generous!

 

My dh volunteered to do appliance repair for someone we don't know.

 

I kept a friend's 2 kids today while she did a few errands.

 

Who's next?

 

That was nice of him to repair something for someone you don't even know! :)

 

There is a dumpster near my grocery store where I sometimes see a man or a couple sitting with a sign asking for food. Today it was a man and I left him a bag of apples, bread, and peanut butter.

 

Aw. Very sweet. We never see people like that where I live, actually, must be very touching and difficult.

 

I fear my answer is going to start getting boring. I decided to bring 4 loaves of homemade bread into work every week: one to each ward I cover, and the extra to a deserving person (having a tough week) or ward (having a tough week).

 

Don't worry about boring, I would love it if someone did that for me!

 

Took some books/magazines that were too full of American pop culture references to send to Liberia (where I am sending a big shipment of books) to the library to donate to the Friends of the Library sale.

 

Cool! I forget if you already mentioned why Liberia...what's with the book shipment there? My mom used to be really active on a site called Books for Soldiers which I always thought was cool...they'd send books and other things for deployed troops to have things to do on their down time, and the troops could make requests and stuff.

 

I gave away some curricula to two homeschooling moms after hearing that they needed it. I had the books and kits on my bookshelf, waiting for the "perfect moment" for our family (which may never actually come).

 

DH took a day off to play classical guitar at the Ladies Christmas Tea. It's becoming a tradition.

 

That was nice of you to give away the stuff instead of selling it. And cool of your husband to take off work for that!

 

I don't know if mine counts this week. A friend e-mailed as her ride had fallen through and asked if I could pick her up at 9:30 at night. Every part of me wanted to say no, past my bedtime etc... but I said yes. I said "Of course, I would love too". Then today she texted to say that her original ride came through.

 

Does that count? If not, I need a new idea STAT as I am leaving town tomorrow. Also, what is a good random act to perform while on vacation? We will be in Philadelphia, dh has a conference, so, I am thinking...Field Trip

 

Of course it counts! And I'm sure you'll come across an opportunity while in Philly!

 

My ds 16 tutored ds15's friend in geometry today (no charge), using up his only hour of free time for the day!

 

Love to hear about kids doing things on their own!! :)

 

So, this can be something that the person will know you did it for them? It doesn't have to be secret?

 

I have no problem with people not knowing I did it for them, but I struggle to figure out how to make it secret many times!

 

I will join in. A friend needs some items for her KA mixer and her DH just lost his job.

 

I found the said items on CL and will be shipping them out today.

 

Dawn

 

It doesn't have to be a secret! :) Nice of you to help your friend out and hope her husband is able to find something, that is such a shame when people lose their jobs right during the holidays! :(

 

On Tuesday, I baked some pumpkin bread for our horse trainer. She has really taken my oldest DD under her wing and takes special notice of her. She encourages and challenges her. We really appreciate our horse trainer and are blessed to have her in our lives.

 

Oh yum, I love pumpkin bread!

 

Continuing to enjoy hearing what everybody is doing and getting new ideas! :)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Cool! I forget if you already mentioned why Liberia...what's with the book shipment there? My mom used to be really active on a site called Books for Soldiers which I always thought was cool...they'd send books and other things for deployed troops to have things to do on their down time, and the troops could make requests and stuff.

 

 

 

Liberia's schools and libraries were torched and decimated during civil war. They are now trying to rebuild them. Our church, along with a local public school, has been collecting books and curriculum to send to Liberia. My kids and I are doing all the packing now that others did the collecting. I hadn't specifically mentioned it before because it's not random but very much planned.;) I'm running into a problem that while 99% of the things collected are great, there is that 1% would have absolutely no meaning for people thousands of miles away in a different culture. So I'm culling those out and redirecting them to people here who could benefit.

[DaffodilDreams]

Someone I know was having a bad week this week. I sent a thank you letter detailing how much I appreciate this person and how much the person has blessed our family. A small gesture, I know, but it felt nice to do this.

[DaffodilDreams]

And catching up from last week:

 

we bought a Christmas tree for a single dad who has had a really bad year.

[k2bdeutmeyer]

After finding a lone $10 bill in a coat pocket, the kids and I went and purchased a package of socks, a package of cookies, and a bottle of juice for a homeless man that we always see standing along side the interstate off ramp.

[Doran5]

We try to "Pay it backwards" whenever we can. Just pay for the person behind you in a drive thru line. One day, I was in Chik-fil-a and paid for the person in the drive thru. She ended up paying for the person behind her.

[jenniferlee]

The kids and I decided to spend the morning writing letters and drawing pictures to send to a family that is living in Africa starting orphan homes. We were thinking that it is always nice to hear from people "back home" when you are so far away during the holidays.

[NanceXToo]

Liberia's schools and libraries were torched and decimated during civil war. They are now trying to rebuild them. Our church, along with a local public school, has been collecting books and curriculum to send to Liberia. My kids and I are doing all the packing now that others did the collecting. I hadn't specifically mentioned it before because it's not random but very much planned.;) I'm running into a problem that while 99% of the things collected are great, there is that 1% would have absolutely no meaning for people thousands of miles away in a different culture. So I'm culling those out and redirecting them to people here who could benefit.

 

Oh! That's a great thing to do with used books and curricula!

 

Someone I know was having a bad week this week. I sent a thank you letter detailing how much I appreciate this person and how much the person has blessed our family. A small gesture, I know, but it felt nice to do this.

 

Definitely heartfelt, I am sure that lifted their spirits!

 

And catching up from last week:

 

we bought a Christmas tree for a single dad who has had a really bad year.

 

:)

 

After finding a lone $10 bill in a coat pocket, the kids and I went and purchased a package of socks, a package of cookies, and a bottle of juice for a homeless man that we always see standing along side the interstate off ramp.

 

That's wonderful!

 

We try to "Pay it backwards" whenever we can. Just pay for the person behind you in a drive thru line. One day, I was in Chik-fil-a and paid for the person in the drive thru. She ended up paying for the person behind her.

 

lol that's pretty cool. This kind of thing is definitely on my list, too.

 

The kids and I decided to spend the morning writing letters and drawing pictures to send to a family that is living in Africa starting orphan homes. We were thinking that it is always nice to hear from people "back home" when you are so far away during the holidays.

 

I'm sure it is! I'm sure they'll appreciate hearing from you guys!

 

Okay, I am starting the Week 3 thread shortly, so please post anything further to that thread! I'll update with the link in a minute or two. :)

 

ETA: Week 3 thread here:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3378722#post3378722

[Chelle in MO]

I didn't get out much this week other than work, but I did get to do a RAOK last night. I was at Subway, and the lady in front of me had estimated the amount wrong. I reached into my pocket and handed her the amount she needed. She was very thankful, and the kid ringing us up said "Wow--I didn't think people still did that." To me it was just a few cents, but allowing the kid to see that kindness does still exist was priceless.

 

I love that!

[Myra]

While walking the puppy, I found a set of keys with no identification. But looking closely at them, I noticed the one looked to be a post office box key. So I drove to the Post Office & they said yep - they'd be able to look up the contact info and give the owner a call.

 

Myra