Random Act of Kindness #13- Can I get a ride?

Mornings suck for almost every high school student, waking up before noon is nearly impossible for us. However, it makes it a little easier when you get to talk to someone who is always full of energy every morning. I have known this kid for a couple of years, he lives just a few streets away. Every morning I receive a text from him that says, "can I get a ride?" and every morning I say yes! When I didn't have a car I hated having to wait for my parents to come pick me up and drop me off at school. Not only that, but it doesn't make sense to have parents drop you off if someone nearby is already going there. Picking him up before school is an act of kindness that I truly enjoy doing every morning.

Random Act of Kindness #12- "Mommy can I have a quarter?"

Do you remember when you were little how every time you would walk past a candy machine you would turn towards your mother and father and say "can I have a quarter?" Then when they would give you one you would spend 5 minutes deciding which candy you wanted. For this random act of kindness I went to our mall and placed a quarter in every single candy machine. Now mommy and daddy can save their quarters for something more important, like claw machines and video games.

Random Act of Kindness #11- Animal Shelter

Almost everyone has been to an animal shelter or at least seen the heartbreaking commercials with the animals just sitting in cages. A couple months ago I had to put my dog to sleep, so recently my family and I went to a local shelter and adopted two new puppies of our own. The shelter was well kept and very patient with us while we discussed adopting the two puppies for an hour. For this random act of kindness I donated paper towels, cat toys, dog toys, dog treats, dog collars, and leashes to the same animal shelter. I hope others can find a new furry friend as well as make use of these donations.

Pay it Forward

Today while I was in class a note was delivered to me. One of my administrators heard about my blog and checked it out. It's amazing how fast and far this has spread in the short time I have been doing it. I was very happy to hear that my blog had inspired her to leave positive notes for her children. I can only hope that these random acts of kindness continue to be passed along throughout my community.

Random Act of Kindness #10- Helping the Hungry

The little girl next door who helped me yesterday wanted to tag along for this one as well, so for our next random act of kindness we gathered up cans and took them over to the River Bend Foodbank. The warehouse was cold and there was only one man working there at the time we went. We didn't collect anywhere close to the amount of cans that they get from food drives or other events, but the man told us that every can helps. Not only am I happy to donate the cans, but I'm glad that helping out is something this little girl now enjoys to do and I hope she continues it.

Random Act of Kindness #9- Play and Help

Our school was cancelled today because it was 30 below zero with the wind. No school does not mean no work though, I got to babysit one of the girls in our neighborhood while her mother was at work today. Since it was so cold we decided it was best to stay inside, but that doesn't mean it stopped us from performing a random act of kindness. There is a website (www.freerice.com) where you pick a school subject and you answer the questions it gives you. You can go all the way up to level 60 and for each correct answer you get it donates 10 grains of rice. At the end of the game we successfully donated 1100 grains of rice. It's a simple and easy way to give back, anyone can do it.

Random Act of Kindness #8- Cookies for Co-workers

A couple months ago I was hired as a cashier at a car detail/wash. The workers there were all patient with me as I learned what to do and they were all very welcoming and nice. The first few weeks they all would come check up on me during my shift to make sure I didn't have any questions. When it's a slow day they all come up by the cash register and tell stories and jokes, they make it such a great place to work. They all work on the line, which means they are outside in a garage like building washing the cars. In the winter it gets pretty cold out there. To stay a little warm they come inside to get coffee multiple times during the day. For this random act of kindness I left cookies in the break room, right next to the coffee for them. They were all gone within 30 minutes, I would say they enjoyed the treat.  

Random Act of Kindness #7- Laundry Day

Doing laundry is never really exciting. My mom does laundry every Sunday and when she does she always puts a load in the washer then takes the clothes from the dryer and folds them while watching TV. I bet most of you guys have a routine or a day when you do laundry too. For some people that routine includes loading up all their laundry and taking it to a laundry mat where they have to pay a couple quarters to wash a load of their laundry and then wait there for it to get done. For this random act of kindness I purchased detergent and left it inside one of the washing machines along with 12 quarters and a note that said, "laundry is on me today." I hope I made laundry day a little easier and more exciting for someone.

Follow up on Random Act of Kindness #2

I got home from work today to find a note from my mailman. He took the time to thank me for what I did. I don't perform these random acts of kindness for a thank you and that is what makes finding this even better. Him taking the time to thank me is a random act of kindness on his part and that is awesome to see it come back around. I loved reading this, it's great knowing that he appreciated it and that this random act of kindness was successful.

Random Act of Kindness #6- Ding Dong Thank You

You've heard the saying "be grateful for what you have." Most people after hearing this start to think of physical objects or items such as; food, clothes, transportation, and electronics. We sometimes forget about the little things that we are blessed enough to have, like good neighbors. Not everyone in the world has them. My family is lucky enough to have a family next to us who's company we enjoy. They have the cutest little kids and you can't not smile when you are around them. I wanted to let them know how much I appreciate their family and all the kind things they do for us. I filled a basket up with a book, a movie, a coloring book, crayons, a stuffed animal, cookies, a balloon, free passes to the zoo, and a letter. I left it on their doorstep for them to find and them being the kind neighbors I know they are, they thanked me and let me know they appreciated it. It made this random act of kindness even more enjoyable for me to do:

Random Act of Kindness #5- Crayola Bomb

"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." -Robert Fulghum. Stressful times aren't easy on anyone, especially the little ones who don't know what is happening or why mommy and daddy are crying. For this random act of kindness I purchased some coloring books and a box of 64 crayola crayons, yes with a built in sharpener, and I dropped them off at to our local emergency room. The security guard that I talked to told me that it is heartbreaking how many little children wait there for hours with out a clue of what is really going on behind the waiting room doors. She thanked me and told me this gift will be greatly appreciated by not only the children, but the families as a whole. I walked out of that hospital with a happy heart knowing that this random act will make a difference.

Random Act of Kindness #4- Lucky Penny

This random act of kindness has a story behind it. When I was 9 years old I had my first ever softball tryout and I was so nervous. On my ride to tryouts I found a penny head side up in our car. My mom always says "find a penny pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck" so that's what I did. I stuck the penny in my cleat right before tryouts. I made the team and for the rest of that season I kept the lucky penny in my cleat at all times. When something bad happens our minds often convince us that every other little thing that goes wrong during the day is worse than it actually is. Sometimes we just need a change in our mind set, a little "luck" to turn our days around and convince us that we can do it. I placed 25 pennies head side up in random places at 5 different locations around town. Hopefully, the finders of these pennies come across "good luck" the rest of the day. 

Random Act of Kindness #3- Don't Forget the Popcorn

Popcorn and movies, can't have one without the other. I don't know how many of you go to movie stores now that there are Redbox's on every corner, but have you ever been in a movie store waiting in line surrounded by popcorn and candy? Or even at the movie theater,  when you say "oh, I'm just going to watch the movie, I don't need popcorn." Then the minute you smell it, there is no resisting.  Maybe it's just me, but the nights that I decide to watch movies are usually sudden, last minute plan type of nights. I pick out a movie then go right home to watch it and I never remember to grab myself a snack. For my third random act of kindness I placed bags of popcorn on Redbox machines around town with a note that said "enjoy your movie and the popcorn." Because what's a movie without popcorn?

Random Act of Kindness #2- Mail for the mailman

I don't know how the weather is in every other state, but where I live it's cold. We have had a handful of days where with the wind it feels like -50 degrees outside. It has snowed every single day for the past 2 weeks, some days it's just snow flurry and other days it's a full out blizzard. I run to and from my car everyday and I complain about how cold I am, then as I drive down the street I see our  mailman walking door to door. They are all bundled up with as many layers as one can fit, but with a -50 degree temperature outside it would take a lot more clothing to be warm. Many may not think about it because not many people still write letters through the mail anymore, but the weather they do their job in is not always pleasing. For my second random act of kindness I decided to let our mailman know that I appreciate and thank them for the job they do. I also gave our mailman a 5 dollar gift card to Starbucks, where hopefully they can treat themselves to something warm. 

Random Act of Kindness #1- Help out a friend.

Sometimes we take our friends for granted. We think that our friendships are something that won't ever end because that would just be crazy, right? We forget the whole process of how we become friends. Friendship is about having someone to count on. I decided for my first random act of kindness I would help out my best friend. I told her I would rebound for her. She had a big basketball game in a couple of hours and she wanted to take a couple shots before going. To a few this may not sound like I did much, but she said with me getting the ball for her every time she probably got in an extra 20-30 shots. She played a great game that night and I'm happy I got to help her practice doing what she loves.

For these next couple of weeks in one of my high school classes we are suppose to continuously blog about a personal experience, something we do and do well. At first, like most regular high school students, I thought "What the heck am I good at?" I didn't think I could come up with anything that other people would be interested in reading about on a regular basis. I then realized that if I am going to write about something that I do for these next couple of weeks I might as well make it worth my time, do something I would enjoy, because if I find joy in it some others are bound to as well. This is when I got the idea of performing random acts of kindness on a day to day basis. I know, for me at least, when someone does something as simple as holding the door for me I smile. Think about it, how often do you hold the door open for people? Actually standing there holding the door and waiting for them to walk through, not just pushing the door a little harder so they can catch it before it closes. If I can make someone's day a little better by holding a door open or paying for their meal this will be worth every second.