:) I have seen and read lots of posts about Random Acts of Kindness through the years and was trying to come up with an Advent-type activity for us to do to both count down and the days AND illustrate the true meaning of Christmas. So last year I just added "Christmas" to Random Acts of Kindness and we decided to start them on December 1! I made little cards that have a little note about how we are counting down the days to our Savior's birth and that you matter to us, or something to that effect, and we leave a card with any of the acts that involve giving something to someone.
I have had lots of people ask me for "my list"... I don't mind sharing ideas but it would take forever to type the whole thing out, so I'm just going to provide links to online lists, all of which are similar to mine. The main difference in many of these lists and mine is that several of ours involve local events and activities. I think it's important to sow into your community as much as you possibly can and support local ministries and charities. Therefore, we always partner for one day with Refuge (last year we helped them sort toys for their Christmas giveaway and I think we are working the giveaway this year), we are volunteering with People for Care and Learning to sell Christmas trees, we picked a boy from the CMS Raider Angel tree and bought gifts for him, we donated to Transition Furniture's Christmas for families who will be without, we may be ringing bells with the Salvation Army, last year we donated to Toys for Tots one day... Some of our favorites last year were any that involved work, the day we gave gift cards to Smoothie King to Lee U students studying for finals, taking treats to the firefighters, buying a candy bar for a cashier to enjoy while on break (did that one tonight!), taking cards to the nursing home, and paying for the meal of the people in a car behind us at the drive-through.
I can tell you a couple of things we learned last year, and I'm sure we will learn more this year. First of all, the library will not tell you the names of, nor let you donate toward, those with overdue fines. I'm not sure if there is some librarian version of HIPPA or what, but the CPL is not all about letting people act kindly. ;) Secondly, and thankfully I found out before we tried it and got sent to the Big House, but it's actually illegal to feed meters. In addition, make sure you ask the total of the car behind you before you pay unless you are up for a big one.
I never would have thought of taking a basket of goodies to the ICU waiting room had a friend who had recently been through that not suggested it to me. Little did I know that we would be the ones benefitting from that act in only 8 short months. That's the thing about acts of kindness... not only are you blessed by doing them, you never know when you are going to be on the receiving end of one.
We are not held captive by our list of ideas, either. On Sunday I wasn't sure what we were going to do since we had no plans of leaving the house all day and had almost decided on writing letters to people who mean something to us when an opportunity came along to, through a friend, bless another family. So that was our RACK for the day. Today we happened to be in Target and see a harried cashier, so we picked the candy bar option. On a cold morning, we will send hot chocolate to the crossing guards or teachers on bus duty. To be completely honest, last year I did not and I mean DID NOT feel like attending a play some of my students were in. We counted that as our RACK for the day (and also ended up being VERY glad we went because it was AWESOME!).
The important thing is to put the focus on other people for this season. My kids absolutely loved this and it was the one tradition they mentioned several times in the year that they wanted to do again. I make them be the ones who give the goods/cards (if giving is to be done) because I want them to be comfortable with the act of giving. I blogged about this a while back, but I don't understand why we are so uncomfortable and even embarrassed by giving! We read something in Holocaust Lit today that had a line that said, "Goodness leaves us gasping"and I am afraid that's so true. I don't want my girls to consider activities like these to be unusual, but rather that they live a life of giving and service. I also think the card is important. It doesn't have our name on it and many of the people we RACK have no clue who we are, either by name or even face (taping quarters onto the buggies at Aldi). But I want people who are on the receiving end of this to know that we are driven by a love of a Savior and a hope in Christ who came as a tiny gift in a manger.
Anyway, here are some links below to various lists. Make it work in whatever way you wish but I would love for you to make it happen in some way. I won't even sue you for copyright infringement. ;)
http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/kindness-ideas
http://roogirl.com/101-ideas-for-random-acts-of-kindness/
http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2013/07/random_acts_of_kindness_ideas/
http://andthenwesaved.com/random-acts-of-kindness-ideas/
I can tell you a couple of things we learned last year, and I'm sure we will learn more this year. First of all, the library will not tell you the names of, nor let you donate toward, those with overdue fines. I'm not sure if there is some librarian version of HIPPA or what, but the CPL is not all about letting people act kindly. ;) Secondly, and thankfully I found out before we tried it and got sent to the Big House, but it's actually illegal to feed meters. In addition, make sure you ask the total of the car behind you before you pay unless you are up for a big one.
I never would have thought of taking a basket of goodies to the ICU waiting room had a friend who had recently been through that not suggested it to me. Little did I know that we would be the ones benefitting from that act in only 8 short months. That's the thing about acts of kindness... not only are you blessed by doing them, you never know when you are going to be on the receiving end of one.
We are not held captive by our list of ideas, either. On Sunday I wasn't sure what we were going to do since we had no plans of leaving the house all day and had almost decided on writing letters to people who mean something to us when an opportunity came along to, through a friend, bless another family. So that was our RACK for the day. Today we happened to be in Target and see a harried cashier, so we picked the candy bar option. On a cold morning, we will send hot chocolate to the crossing guards or teachers on bus duty. To be completely honest, last year I did not and I mean DID NOT feel like attending a play some of my students were in. We counted that as our RACK for the day (and also ended up being VERY glad we went because it was AWESOME!).
The important thing is to put the focus on other people for this season. My kids absolutely loved this and it was the one tradition they mentioned several times in the year that they wanted to do again. I make them be the ones who give the goods/cards (if giving is to be done) because I want them to be comfortable with the act of giving. I blogged about this a while back, but I don't understand why we are so uncomfortable and even embarrassed by giving! We read something in Holocaust Lit today that had a line that said, "Goodness leaves us gasping"and I am afraid that's so true. I don't want my girls to consider activities like these to be unusual, but rather that they live a life of giving and service. I also think the card is important. It doesn't have our name on it and many of the people we RACK have no clue who we are, either by name or even face (taping quarters onto the buggies at Aldi). But I want people who are on the receiving end of this to know that we are driven by a love of a Savior and a hope in Christ who came as a tiny gift in a manger.
Anyway, here are some links below to various lists. Make it work in whatever way you wish but I would love for you to make it happen in some way. I won't even sue you for copyright infringement. ;)
http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/kindness-ideas
http://roogirl.com/101-ideas-for-random-acts-of-kindness/
http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2013/07/random_acts_of_kindness_ideas/
http://andthenwesaved.com/random-acts-of-kindness-ideas/
No comments:
Post a Comment