26 Acts of Kindness

Being a mother to two small children, the tragedies at Sandy Hook Elementary have gushed sadness, fear, and anger into my daily life.  Those are often followed by prayers of healing and comfort for the families of the precious lives that were taken in such an unthinkable manner.

My mom was the original recipient of a note from a stranger, tucked under her wiper blade in the WalMart parking lot.  It was a simple card with a huge message.  "Dear Neighbor," it started.  Inside were 26 hearts, 26 names to remember and honor with a simple message, "Kindness-Pass It On" and a $5 bill.

I found a facebook page with the origination of this kindness idea.  If you are at all interested in doing small, random acts of kindness this page is a great place to start!  Lots of ideas from big to small, all with the same message, "If you do good, you feel good."  And I'm willing to bet that the more people feel good about being kind to strangers the better we can become as a town, city, state, and country.

This is a project that I immediately felt I could do.  Ever since I was young I've been one of the helper people.  I'm not a good leader, not a good initiator, not a good speaker, but I am a good listener and love to do things by "stealth" and go unnoticed or unknown.  Everyone's gifts are welcome in this endeavor.


A month or so ago I wrote to some of my favorite food companies requesting help in helping folks around my town this Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I was hoping to do a coupon giveaway or something like that, but the responses kept trickling in and I wasn't able to finish it in time for either holiday.  Then I found 26 Acts of Kindness and decided this was the perfect opportunity to share what these companies so graciously sent me to pass along!

I'd like to publicly thank a few awesomely good companies that have enabled me to help others this season (and encourage you to try their products if you haven't already!)

Van's Frozen Foods
Schar
Rhode's Breads 

and a HUGE thank you to
Chobani
for their generous donation!

I spent the evenings writing up cards and including fun coupons, free rental codes, and even a few gift bags and have been having a lot of fun passing them out or leaving them around randomly.

Hopefully this will catch on and keep going.  Everyone can use a little note or gift and you never know just how much it could mean to someone that you thought of them.