Birthday surprise

I don't know about your elementary school, but when I was in elementary school birthdays were like a holiday. Your whole class would sing to you and you would bring in treats to pass around to all of your classmates. Well, yesterday was my birthday and I got a lovely surprise that brought back that memory. I walked into my 4th block class and two of my classmates had purchased donuts and cookies for my whole class to eat because it was my birthday. I didn't ask them to and that's what made this special. Thanks guys, you made my day.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Random Act of Kindness #36- The coolest custodians

I help out with our youth wrestling club here and that club hosts two big tournaments every year at our high school. After the tournaments are done we help the custodians clean up and it's crazy how much dirt and trash get left behind. I'm not exaggerating when I say clean up takes almost 2 hours and that's with 20-30 people helping out. However, our high school hosts events like this almost daily and it's a never ending job for our custodians. Not only are there so many events, but our high school has about 1,500 students who walk through our halls, that is a lot of kids making a mess. If you were to walk through my school you wouldn't believe the building is as old as it is, that is because it is so well kept -  thanks to our custodians. For this random act of kindness, with the help of my principal, we put together a dinner for some of the members of the custodial staff to enjoy. Thank you custodians for everything you do.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Heartland Community School random acts of kindness week

Have you every thought about how awesome it would be if your school had a full week dedicated to getting together and performing random acts of kindness? Well, the Heartland Community School district in Nebraska knows exactly how awesome it is. The student senate members of Heartland Community Schools planned and executed a random acts of kindness week. Linda, a counselor at their school sent in an email all about it. Some of the random acts included delivering fruit snacks with thank you notes to the staff and faculty members, bringing cupcakes in for others, hanging signs on the bathroom mirrors, and even collecting clothes to give to Goodwill. I would love to see my school and many others do what this inspiring school did. You're doing great things Heartland, keep it up.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Letter to an important teacher

Teachers and coaches whether we realize it or not, play a big role in our life. Today five classmates of mine wrote a letter to a teacher or coach who has impacted them in a positive way. Their goal was to show the teachers and coaches how much they appreciate what they do. They spend hours with us, whether it's in the classroom or weight room, they do so much and it's to get us better. It was great to see them take action on their own. I know these letters are something these coaches and teachers will hang onto forever, great job guys!

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

B.I.O.N.I.C

Everyone at one point will experience the loss of a loved one. Although it's something no one should have to go through, it is inevitable. A group at my local middle school, B.I.O.N.I.C or "Believe It Or Not I Care",  decided to set out to do something nice for families going through this tough time by baking homemade apple pies for them. My brother attends this middle school and it is amazing to know that there are amazing groups like B.I.O.N.I.C that are setting a good example for him and the other students. Thank you Gwen and your group for sending in this story and helping us to spread the kindness.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Random Act of Kindness #36- Peachwave shares the kindness

Today I received a tweet from my local frozen yogurt place, Peachwave. They saw my blog and they wanted to help me share the kindness by giving me two gift cards to give away. As soon as I picked them up I went over to the counter and left one of the gift cards in a cup for someone to find. I haven't decided where the second one will go yet, but hopefully by the end of the week it will have given it away. I personally enjoy Peachwave frozen yogurt and I'm excited to give others gift cards to enjoy it themselves. Thank you Peachwave for getting involved and helping me share the kindness through our community, this was truly appreciated.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Positive notes at BHS

Today I walked into class and my teacher asked, "Chelsea did you post those positive notes on all the lockers?" I looked at her very confused because I had no clue, so I walked out of the classroom to go see what she was talking about. I was amazed to see the whole entire locker bay covered in positive notes and what's even more incredible is I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Some students in my school had performed a random act of kindness on their own. Later that day one of the students had contacted me about it and told me why they did what they did. They said "we read online that teens are developing low self esteem problems and a lack of feeling of importance." They came up with these positive notes as a simple reminder to everyone that they are important. They said they saw some people take the notes and put it in their lockers and they heard one guy said he was going to do something similar for all the teachers. What's even better is what they said about the goal of this random act, "even if we only helped one person it would be worth it" and that is exactly it. I hope these students continue to make other people's day.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Random Act of Kindness #35- Taking in the trash

My dad takes out the trash every Sunday night, because Monday is trash collection! When I come home for lunch on Mondays I see our trash can and recycling bin sitting in the driveway, but I always just ignored it. My mom always says we tend to walk by things and ignore them because we expect others to do it instead and that is exactly why I always ignored them. When my parents come home from work they just roll them in, I know they will do it so I don't have to. So, today when I saw the trashcan and recycling bin sitting there I didn't ignore it. I took a couple minutes during my lunch to roll them in so my parents didn't have to when they came home.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Let's make a change

Today I not only received an email about a random act of kindness performed, but I received an email that showed me the change this is making. Just like Laura's story, this women had stopped at the grocery store to grab some popcorn for her kids movie day at school. It was another really windy night and she saw a grocery cart rolling through the parking lot. She told me in the email that it's embarrassing to admit, but at first she dismissed it. She says it was cold, she was tired, and the cart was going in the complete opposite direction. She then said, "...your random acts of kindness popped into my head. I like to think that I am a caring person, but man, I was just about to turn a blind eye to something that could have resulted in frustration and stress for someone else. I was shocked by this realization and it became apparent how often I rush around only thinking of myself." With this thought in her head, she jumped out of her car and chased down the cart that was headed towards a minivan. "It literally took me five extra seconds." She said, "While this was such a simple act of kindness, without your blog I likely would have continued in my rushed state and not offered a helping hand." I can't explain how much I loved reading this email. The things she said in the email couldn't be more correct, even for myself. Before I started this blog I didn't think so much about every little thing I saw or did, but now I think twice about everything. For example, every time I see a door I hold it open, but I never used to. We all seem to be in a rush now a days, ourselves seem to be all we think we have time for. She ended the email to me by saying, "Thank you for reminding us that we are all better off when we collectively join together to help one another out." But I want to thank every single one of you guys who showed me that together we can make a change.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Mixing it up

I have two sent in stories that aren't exactly like the other ones I post, which is great! The first one is from someone who helped out a family member financially by sending money anonymously. She did not want the return address to be recognized, so she sent the money to a coworker in a different state who then sent it to the family member. She says that to this day the family member does not know who sent that money and that is exactly how she wants to keep it. What makes this story so different is that this act wasn't performed yesterday or even last week, it was performed 20 years ago. This act of kindness didn't just make someone's day it truly helped someone who needed a hand and that is incredible. She says, "daily I watch and try to do something anonymously and I get the blessing too!" keep it up, you're doing great things!

The second unique story I received was from a lady who was very appreciative of the random act she witnessed. Renne was walking out to her car from work the other day and she saw two coworkers going around and cleaning off all the cars. "They were like the dynamic duo, reaching to the top of the car with really long snow brushes and pushing off all the heavy snow" she said, "I barely had to do anything at all!" I bet these two awesome coworkers made more than just Renne smile.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Random Act of Kindness #34- Out of gas

Today my parents asked me to go pick my brother up from his friend's house and since my mom's car was last in the driveway they told me to take it. Before I left the house my mom said she was low on gas and then told me to take her debit card to put 20 dollars in it. I took her card, but that was just to make her think I was going to use it. I picked my brother up and then we stopped at the gas station and I used my card to put half a tank of gas into my mom's car. My parents would pay for my gas every time I needed it when I first got a car, since I didn't have a job. I now have two jobs and they still pay for my gas every once in a while. I could never repay my parents for all the things they do for me, but I can remind them how grateful I am for everything. My mom still doesn't know I did this, but she will eventually because she reads my blog. Thank you mom and dad for everything!

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Laura- SAVE THE CAR

This incredible lady performed a random act of kindness and it was very unique!  Her and a friend were headed to the grocery store a few nights ago when it was really cold and windy out! She noticed that there was a grocery cart stranded in the middle of the parking lot, so she took a few steps out of her way to grab it. The reason this story is so unique to me is not just what she did, but why she did it. She says in her email, "As an insurance agent I have listened to so many frustrated car owners that call in their car damage claims after their car was 'attacked' by a run away shopping cart. As a human... I feel terrible for the poor employees that have to clean up the parking lots after others that don't take the time to put their carts away-especially in the bad weather conditions" This random act didn't take anything but a few extra steps and it helped out employees and most likely saved a car owner from having to call their insurance agent. Laura wraps up the email by asking, "please think of others and take your cart to the stalls or grab that random cart and walk it back into the store since you are walking that way anyway and probably need a cart!" Laura has really shown that acts of kindness don't have to be anything more than a couple steps in a different direction, awesome Laura, keep it up!

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

Random Act of Kindness #33- Donuts for the police

My school is lucky enough to have two awesome police officers. Every time I see them in the hall I always get a hello, they really do their best to get to know all the students. It can't be easy dealing with some of the things they have to deal with, but I never hear them complain. For this random act of kindness I purchased some donuts for our schools police officers. One obviously enjoyed them, but what police officer doesn't?

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog

#kalarkind

Thank you everyone who has sent in a personal story about a random act of kindness that you performed! I check the email almost every hour because I enjoy hearing about all the inspiring things others are doing. Throughout this I have changed and added many things to the big goal I have set for this blog. It started out as just me making someone's day everyday, then I added the goal of having others share the kindness themselves, and I have yet again added something else. I would love to see and hear about all the random acts you perform, but I would also love to hear about the ones you witness. It's great to perform an act of kindness, but it's just as important to recognize and appreciate the ones that you see occurring. Not only did I add this new goal, I have also added a new way to let the world know. I want to make it easier and more convenient for some people to share the kindness, that is why I have added a live twitter update app in the right hand column. If you perform or see a random act of kindness occur tweet it out and add #kalarkind in the tweet and it will automatically pop up in the twitter box on the blog. You can also follow @kalarkind or like the Experience Acts of Kindness page on Facebook for blog updates and short sent in stories. Whether it's on twitter or by email, share the kindness please!

Remember if you perform an act of kindness email us your story at sharethekindness22@gmail.com , share it on our Facebook page, or  just tweet about it and add the #kalarkind for it to appear in the right hand column of this blog 

Random Act of Kindness #32- Postcard to children

Today I came across this awesome website (http://sendkidstheworld.com/index.php/send-post-cards.html) this website allows you to send postcards to children with a terminal illness. There are a handful of children on this website and after looking at all of them for a while I came across this kid who reminded me a lot of my brother. His personal section told me that he loved to play ball and that he loved anything with wheels. His picture was also attached and he had the biggest smile on his face. I wrote him a postcard in hopes I could make his smile a little bigger today!

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com 

5B update

I was so excited to receive another email from a student in Saudi Arabia! She explained to me the cards her and her friends made! She said it took them about two weeks and at the time the teachers had no clue what they were doing! These wonderful students went on to say, "the best part [about the cards] was it made them feel good.... my librarian was in a bad mood but the card made her feel better." I'm so happy to hear the cards made an immediate impact. They ended this amazing email by saying, "just remember that something small can make the world change." 5B I am so impressed and inspired. You are doing an awesome job, keep making a difference!

Paige's Random Act

We tend to forget about how much we have that others do not. We have had some sub-zero temperatures lately and not everyone has enough clothing to stay warm. Coats, gloves, hats, blankets, and a heated home... not everyone has them. A classmate of mine, Paige, helped someone who was less fortunate for her random act of kindness. Paige and her father saw a homeless man standing by the road in town. She said, "I couldn't bare the thought of him having to stand outside when it is -18 degrees outside." She went up to the man and gave him 30 dollars so he could get some gloves or a warm coat to keep warm. I'm so happy that Paige helped this man out, it's heartbreaking having to see people sitting out in the cold. This random act is incredible and the man on the receiving end was probably extremely grateful.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #31- Do you have a piece of gum?

My brother and I know that my mother always has a pack of gum in her purse. After family meals we always look at her and ask, "Can we have some gum?" I know my mom isn't the only one that constantly gets asked this questions though. Every student has heard and asked this question, especially after lunch! So, for this random act of kindness I bought enough gum for every student in my class to have a piece after lunch. 

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #30- Flat tire

When I turned my car on today a little light came on that said "check tire pressure",  which means I need to go fill up my tires. I drove to the closest gas station and when I looked in my wallet I had all sorts of change, every coin except for a quarter. I never seem to have a quarter when I need one. I counted out a dollar in change and went inside to get some quarters. I figured I can't be the only person who never seems to have any quarters, so after filling up my tires I left 2 quarters on the machine for the next person who needs their tires filled. It's the little things that some people may not think of that can help people out.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #29-Coupons

I don't know about you, but my mom enjoys coupons! She isn't an extreme couponer who saves hundreds of dollars every time she shops, but she saves a little over 10 dollars when she actually uses them. When she sees something that she knows she has a coupon for she will say, "Oh wait, I have a coupon for that!" and it's adorable because she gets excited that she saved a few dollars. Some may think that is crazy, but a few dollars here and there can really add up. For this random act of kindness I went online and printed out coupons for my local grocery store and left them with certain items. All the items I picked were items that I love or used to love when I was younger. I hope mommy and daddy enjoy saving a couple cents while the lucky kiddo enjoys the yummy treats.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #28-Change can make a change

Whenever I saw one of these when I was younger I would beg my parents for change! I would drop the money in and right before it would roll in I would quickly grab it and redo it, over and over again. I loved watching them fly around in circles! Sometimes my brother and I would race our coins and see who's quarter would fall in first. Today's random act was not planned, but when I ran into this today I didn't even hesitate. I put all the change I had on me into it. As you can see I enjoyed it just as much as I did when I was little. This was such a fun, quick, and easy way to give back. All the money donated went towards sight and hearing projects around my town, your change can make a change.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #27- Billion dollar "tip"

I have had the same hairdresser ever since I was about 5, but I've known her since I was 3. Before she was my hairdresser my mom babysat her kids, who are my age! Our families were very close when I was younger. We don't see each other as often anymore, it's usually only when we want our haircut, but it never feels like it's been that long. I couldn't ask for a better hairdresser, so today after my hair appointment I left her a billion dollar "tip". What's better than chocolate on Valentines day?

Random Act of Kindness #26- Thank you teachers!

Us students complain all the time about how much homework we have, the amount of tests we have that week, and about all the other projects we are assigned. When we complain I'm sure we all hear the same response from our teachers, "Well, I have to grade all of them." We don't tend to think that much about it, but it's true. They do a lot of work and it's all for us. It's not only the teachers though, our counselors, administrators, nurses, lunch ladies, and so many others go above and beyond to help guide us down the right path. The teachers and other staff members are with us 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I haven't had every single teacher, I haven't talked to all the lunch ladies, and I am not completely sure which secretary is in each office. However,  every single person that works for my school has done an awesome job at making my high school experience a great one and they deserve to know that. For this random act I put tootsie rolls and suckers with a note that says, "thanks for all you do!" in each and every staff members mailbox, all 185 of them. Thank you BHS faculty and staff.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

The amazing 5B

I never imagined that people overseas would see this blog, but I was wrong. A student and her 5th grade class, from Saudi Arabia, are not only checking out my blog, but her class has been performing random acts throughout their school. Some activities include smile cards and paper hearts. In another email this student explained how the paper hearts worked, "We all were given paper hearts to write something nice about our teachers, in the cafeteria. It was a surprise. No one but our principle knew. Our teachers were delighted to receive them." It's amazing how acts of kindness spread around the world. What this class is doing is outstanding. If you would like to read her class's blog go to http://blogs.ais-r.edu.sa/jclark/rak/ and check it out. Keep it up 5B, very inspiring!

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #25- Free week

My brother is a wrestler who just recently wrestled at districts. Districts is a tournament in which all wrestlers who want to go to state must wrestle in. Each weight has up to 16 wrestlers in each bracket, only the top 4 place winners qualify for state. For the past two weeks he cut and maintained his weight in order to get into the weight bracket he wanted. It was worth it because he qualified for state this past weekend. State is in 3 weeks, which means he can eat what he normally would for this week and then for the next two he is back to watching what he eats and cutting weight. I took him to Whiteys ice cream last night and let him get whatever he wanted, he deserved the treat!

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Mr.Pisel's Random Act

"Your blog got me thinking about how much I take for granted." My entertainment marketing teacher wrote. The idea behind his act was to take a little time out of his day and remind his family how great they really are, how happy they make him. He wrote notes to his wife and his two children explaining to them about the things they do that make him smile. This act was especially enjoyed by his three and a half year old, he was happy to hear his dad liked his stories and they made him laugh, he really liked the part about his "really cool dance moves". Mr. Pisel said, "it felt great to not only write the notes, but to read them to my children as well". The greatest thing about this, in  my opinion, is that the notes remain on their nightstands and his sons asks him to read it again and again every so often. This random act just shows that it's the little things in life. 

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #24- Operation gratitude

Sometimes a simple hand written letter is all someone needs to smile. My dad was in the Marine Corp several years ago and so when I came across operation gratitude I couldn't pass it up. Operation gratitude is a program where you write letters to deployed troops. You can ask them questions, tell them about yourself, but mainly just make them smile. These people are heroes and they deserve the thanks and appreciation. If you would like to thank our troops go to http://www.operationgratitude.com/get-involved/write-letters/ and share the kindness. 

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #23- Vending Machine

When I was in elementary school my friends and I would pack ourselves lunches a couple time a week. The one thing everyone would pack in their lunch was an Uncrustable sandwich. I'm in high school now and we have 6 or 7 vending machines, all of which have those sandwiches in them. I went to the main vending machine in our school and left $1.50 (enough for an Uncrustable sandwich) for someone to find.

Remember if you perform an act of kindness send in your story and I will post it on this blog: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #22- I'm at a pay phone

Some people might not even know payphones exist anymore. There is a payphone up the road from my house, right by the bus stop, and I actually have seen a couple people use it believe it or not. I think we tend to assume everyone has a phone in today's world, a lot of people do, but phones aren't free. For this random act of kindness I left 50 cents taped to the payphone right up the road. It's only 8 cents to make a call at a payphone, so hopefully they can  make a couple calls this time.

Such a great principal!

How incredible is this, my principal performed a random act of kindness! He decided to anonymously pay for a father and son's breakfast. "...it brought back memories of eating breakfast with my son when he was little."  What is even better is that he never planned on doing it, but when he saw them he thought about my blog and was inspired to pay it forward himself. He said, "It made me feel good for doing something kind just to be kind. I plan to do this again in the near future." I'm glad he experienced that feeling, the feeling of happiness through making others happy. Great job Mr.Casas!

Random Act of Kindness #21- Happy birthday!!

Most people probably don't think of celebrating someone's birthday as an act of kindness. However, in a way I think it is. I'm not saying we celebrate someone's birthday just to be nice, but it's why we actually celebrate it that makes it nice. Think about how many people you know, not just people you talk to, but every single person who's name you know. Every single one of them obviously has a birthday and out of all of those people how many of their birthdays do you actually do something or go somewhere to celebrate? I'm guessing probably not even half of those people. Have you ever thought about why you actually celebrate certain people's birthdays? It's because they are important to you. Taking them for a meal, some ice cream, buying them gifts, or even just spending the day with them, we do it because we love and appreciate them. To me at least, celebrating someone's birthday is like saying, "I'm glad you're in my life." I took my friend out and bought her some ice cream for her birthday, she's a great friend to have and I hope she had a good 17th!

Iowa STEM Fuse- Random Act of Kindness

I received a tweet today from the Iowa STEM Fuse twitter account. They have completed a random act of kindness of their own! It's so exciting knowing that this blog was being thought of as this act was being performed. I can only imagine how happy the service member on the receiving end of this act was. I hope they all felt a little better after knowing they had made a difference in someone's day. Great job and please continue to pay it forward every once in a while!

Random Act of Kindness #20- Dog treats for days

My mother takes my dogs to the dog park at least 4 times a week. She isn't the only one though, there are so many other dog owners in my community that take their dogs to the park regularly. There is usually 20-30 dogs there on a good day and it is adorable to watch them run around and play. Some of the owners bring toys, others bring water, but most bring dog treats for not only their dogs but the other dogs at the park as well. For this random act of kindness I purchased a box of dog treats and left them on the fence along with a hand written note at the park for an owner and a lucky dog to find. I hope they both get excited about this treat.

Random Act of Kindness #19- Go, Dog Go!

When I was a little girl I loved to read Dr. Seuss books. We still have about 30 of his books on our book shelf at my house. I remember I had about 5 that I would constantly read because they were my favorites! For this random act of kindness I went to a local book store and found one of my favorite Dr. Suess books in the kids section. I wrote a note and left enough money to purchase the book inside of the front cover. I hope the child who finds this book not only purchases it, but enjoys it like I used to when I was their age.

Ally's Act of Kindness

Ally decided for her random act of kindness she would donate to the domestic violence shelter. She has been learning about different world wide problems recently in a class and domestic violence was a topic brought up. She said, "I don't hear much about domestic violence on a day to day basis, but that does not mean it isn't a huge problem." She donated 20 out of the 35 items on their donation wish list. She said, "Handing the basket over to him instantly made me feel better. I've never really performed a major random act of kindness, I've done little things, but nothing like this. I loved feeling like I made a difference and I can't wait to perform another random act of kindness sometime soon." I'm proud that she not only loved helping, but that she wants to continue. Great job Ally!

Random Act of Kindness #18- Keep calm and give blood!

I am terrified of needles. I still have to squeeze someone's hand when I get a shot at the doctors. However, knowing I saved 3-4 life's today was the most rewarding feeling I've ever experienced. Our school hosts a blood drive 4 times each year and I have never participated until now. The experience is something I'll never forget. First I had to answer questions and have my vitals checked. I had to have my finger pricked, which stung for a while! My pulse was too fast the first time because I was so nervous so I had to drink some water and calm down before we tried again. After getting past that stage, I picked a seat and then the nurse had to find a good vein on my arm. I looked away as she put the needle in my arm and I barley felt it. Honestly, getting my finger pricked hurt worse than that did. I had to keep squeezing a stress ball every couple seconds to get my blood flowing. I was sitting there with the needle in my arm for about 7 minutes, but I didn't get to leave right after. When the nurse took the blood pressure cuff off and the needle out I started to feel sick to my stomach. My friend that was there with me froze and said, "Chels, are you okay? You just got really pale!" I felt extremely weak, dizzy, and I started to sweat out of nowhere! Three nurses quickly flattened my table and threw a couple ice bags on me. I had to cough and put my arm and legs up to get blood circulating. I also had to drink 2 cups of apple juice and eat a cookie. The nurse said what I had just experienced was the feeling you get before passing out. It was a scary feeling to have, but I would do all over again. Saving someone's life is the greatest thing you can do and by donating blood, I did just that.

Spread The Kindness

When I first started this project I had one goal in mind and that was to make someone's day everyday. This past week so many people have began to continuously read my blog to see what I do. I get texts, notes, emails, tweets, and comments thanking me for what I am doing, which has made my goal change. I still want to make someone's day everyday, but I want others too as well. If you like what I'm doing then you should do it too. I'm going to challenge you guys. Spread the kindness and perform random acts on your own! It can be something I have already done or it can be something completely new as well! When you complete a random act of kindness take a picture or video, type out a paragraph explaining what you did and why you did it, then send it to me and I will post your story on this blog!

Email: sharethekindness22@gmail.com

Random Act of Kindness #17- HAPPY meal

Paying for someone's meal is a well known random act of kindness, so I just had to do it! I am only in high school so I don't have enough to pay for a family's meal at a restaurant, but I don't think the price matters as long as the outcome is just as great. I went through the McDonald's drive-thru and got something small, then paid for the guy behind me as well! I gave a note to the cashier to give to him when he pulled up to the window to pay. As soon as he got the note he stuck his head out of his window and yelled "THANK YOU!" which made me even more happy to be able to do it.

Random Act of Kindness #16- Lunch and recess!

At my high school the upperclassmen have the privilege to go off campus during lunch. I usually go home, but today I decided to surprise some pretty cool people. I went to my dad's school to eat lunch with him and then I got to do something that I haven't gotten to do since I was in 5th grade... I got to go play at recess!!! Since it's such a cold winter they don't go outside, but that doesn't stop this school from having fun! They set up Just Dance on a projector screen in the gym and they all get to dance their little hearts out! They were all so energetic and had way better dance moves than I did! This photo taken during recess is of me, my dad, and a student of his whose family I have known since I was in elementary school myself. I think when some of us hear the words "random acts of kindness" material things and money are the first items that come to mind. We forget that time is one of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone. I'm glad I got to spend this time with some people who made every second of it special. 

Random Act of Kindness #15- Paper or plastic?

When my family goes grocery shopping we have to make 3 or 4 trips to the car to get all the groceries inside. There are so many grocery bags, which is crazy because there is no more than about 5 items in each bag. My mom a couple years ago bought a few reusable grocery bags and uses them as often as she can now. It doesn't just help us to not waste so many plastic bags, but it saves us a couple trips to and from our car because it holds so much. You can use these bags to carry many other things besides groceries as well, which makes them even more useful. For this random act of kindness I left several of these bags in random grocery carts at the store with a note explaining the purpose. I hope they come in handy for another family like they do for mine!

Random Act of Kindness #14- Pampered

Do you know someone who is always positive? There is a family friend of ours who is just that, she could say something positive about every single situation or person on this planet, without hesitation. This outstanding woman calls everyone "sweetie" and "honey" and goes above and beyond to help out in any way she can. She never fails to make me smile. She listens so well to every single thing I have say, it always makes me feel as if she understands what I am saying better than I do! She always gives her undivided attention to anyone who talks to her, so for this random act I gave her a bag filled with a manicure and pedicure set so she can give herself some attention! It just so happens it is her birthday today too and I hope it a great one! She brightens up everyone's day, so I hope this brightens up hers!