26 acts of kindness- making progress

It's been a while since I gave you a progress report on my #26 acts of kindness. I have to say I didn't do a lot of heavy lifting with these acts. For most of them I just opened my wallet but I still think I made a difference in people's lives. So here they are, acts 10-19.

#10- My friend Debbi's friend Marguerite is a kindergarten teacher in Revere, MA. Marguerite applied for a grant to create a vegetable garden at the Paul Revere School. She received the grant but needed some extra money to buy some EZ Grow Starter kits for growing plants inside. If they were to plant outside too soon, all the plants would die. So with the help of several donors including myself, they got some of the plants started inside. Next week they will transfer them to the garden outside.

I think this is so cool! 5 year olds are learning to garden and grow their own vegetables. Good luck to Mrs Guide and her kindergarten students!

#11-  This next story tugged at my heartstrings because it involved an injured animal.

Lokin is an italian greyhound who, with his sibling, dug under a fence in his owner's yard and escaped. The owner was able to grab the other dog right away but Lokin took off running. He is a rescued greyhound  and a fast runner.  That night there was a police report that a greyhound at been hit by a car. The driver stopped but the dog ran off.  Lokin was found two days later in the bushes of a home just over the town line in Stoneham. Lokin lives in Melrose.  Lokin was severely injured with lots of broken bones and bruises. Lokin's vet bills are in the thousands. An online fund was set up which goes directly to the vet.  I felt so bad for the dog and his owner I gave some $$$ to the fund. I just checked again and Lokin is recovering nicely.

#12- And then there was the Boston Marathon bombings. I gave to the One Fund Boston. The funds to be distributed to the families of the 4 killed and the 260 victims. There was no question or waivering on this one. It was the right thing to do.

#13- At work, we had a children's book drive so I donated 6 books. I enjoyed looking at the books in the bookstore and picked out a few that would interest me if I were still a child. I think they'll like them.

#14- The marathon bombings were so devastating to our city. The day after, I found out that I knew two of the victims. Marc Fucarile is the son of one of my former co-workers and his aunt is my friend. His mom lives on my street.  Marc was severely injured. He lost a leg and was burned over half his body.  He continues to recover with family at his bedside every day at Mass General Hospital. My friend Debbi asked me if I personally knew any of the victims. She wanted to donate to someone that one of her friends knew. So she gave me a check  for Marc and so did my sister. Debbi also had a Kentucky Derby party and everyone donated their earnings to Marc. We raised $250. for his care. Hardly a dent in his medical bills but it's something.

#15- I was checking on Lokin's vet bill fund and I noticed that donations had slowed down. I am sure it was because everyone in this area was giving to the Marathon Victim's Funds. I gave a few more dollars to show that a recent donation was made to the fund. It also rounded the donations to a total of $1400 collected for Lokin. The goal is $5,000.

#16- My friend Jeanne's 17 year old daughter is going to Kenya this Summer. She is going to help the people in a village by helping to build a school. She is also going to do the water walk which means she will be walking in the heat for 2 hours to obtain water to bring back to the village. The Kenyan women do this at least twice a day. Victoria is fundraising for her trip so I gave some $$ for this cause. She is going to learn some life lessons on this trip. I am glad to help her with this opportunity.

#17-  gave my hairdresser a ride home from her salon. Then she invited me to stay for dinner. I benefitted from my act of kindness!

#18-  another monetary donation. This time to the Stoneham Strong fund which is a fund for the 6 Boston Marathon bombing victims in my hometown of Stoneham. As I mentioned, I knew two of the victims. You may have seen Jacqui Webb on Dateline and other shows. She is the girlfriend of Paul Norden who is one of the two brothers who each lost a leg that day.  Jacqui is a realtor and I am a lender so I know her through business. She also worked with my friend Jeanne who is also a realtor. So of course, I had to give a donation to this local fund.

#19- a simple act of kindness - I almost wasn't going to count this one because it is so minor. My neighbor has a baby and she is constantly trekking the baby up the stairs to her condo unit. The other day she was trying to manage the baby, the dog and bundles from the grocery store. I was wondering how she was going to manage all this so I volunteered to carry most of her bundles so she could concentrate on the baby and dog. She was appreciative.

Can't believe I have reached 19 acts of kindness and I'm feeling really good about it.

I thought it might be good to read about others' acts of kindness so I bought a book from Amazon called The Year of Doing Good by Judith O'Reilly. It's a great book. Judith made a resolution to do one good deed a day for an entire year. The book chronicles each of her acts of kindness. It reads like a diary as she tells a story with each entry she posts.

I am only on act #20 but it has already captivated me. She writes with humor and familiarity. I feel like she is a friend telling me her stories over a cup of coffee. As I read the book I think she could be me. Can't wait to read about the other 345 acts!

Judith has already brought up some questions I was also thinking about my own acts of kindness. For instance, Judith did a good deed for a friend and then she received a thank you note, a bottle of wine and some chocolates from the woman. So she was wondering if she should count the good deed. She never expected a gift and she only did the kindness with the purest intentions.  In the end, she did count it.

I hope you will chronicle your own good deeds so that you can tell me what you did. I am thinking we could do a collaborative post about doing good.  And if you are interested in Judith's book you can only buy it from Amazon UK. Yes, it all took place in England which I think makes it even better!

F. Scott Fitzgerald was right

So I have been continuing with my random acts and I love seeing the reactions of people when they receive a simple gesture of kindness. F. Scott Fitzgerald said it perfectly.

Since my last post I did a few more of the 26 acts. Again I was waiting until an opportunity presented itself. I read a story that really touched me and there it was my opportunity to help a perfect stranger.

I read online about Brandy Jones, a woman who had a fire in her apartment building in Manchester, New Hampshire. On February 5th, she was in the shower when smoke filled her apartment. She got out of the shower and immediately tried to find her pets. She grabbed her dog Sadie and put the leash on her and got out of the building. Sadie, a 2 year old pit bull mix, was so panicked she slipped her collar and was off and running. Sadie was nowhere to be found for days and then there were some sightings. Brandy searched for her even during the blizzard which was a few days later.

Brandy lost everything in the fire,her home, all her belongings. 3 cats, a bird, and a hamster. There were some sightings of Sadie and volunteers continued to search for her. Then the most devastating of news, Sadie's body was found in the wreckage of the building. She had apparently run back into the building and into the fire. The sighting were not of Sadie. She had been killed in the fire.

I cried when I read about Sadie and Brandy. The paper said donations of clothing and gift cards were being accepted so I sent a Target gift card to her along with a handwritten note. There is a fund in Sadie's name as well. I hope my gift card brought a smile to Brandy's face, she certainly deserves it. Act #6.

I was at the gas station the other day and the weather was just miserable, cold and rainy. It was a full service station so I didn't have to pump my own gas. The attendant works all hours of the day and in the worst of weather conditions and always greets me with a smile. He is such a positive sweet man. So when I paid for the gas I gave him a Dunkin Donuts gift card so he could get himself something warm to drink. He was thrilled and it was so nice to see the smile I brought to his face. Act #7.

On Twitter, I follow a woman named Nicole Martin who writes a tea blog called Tea for Me Please. She tweeted about an organization called Kiva and she said she made a loan to a tea farmer. Kiva gives loans to people all over the world by collecting donations. It is a cool concept. They were having a free trial and the other Kiva members donated money so new members would join. So I loaned Percy $25. It went to his bathroom fund and didn't cost me anything. When I joined Kiva I selected Nicole's team so Nicole was awarded another $25 and she made a loan to a second tea farmer since that is her interest.

I checked out all the possible borrowers and  I decided to pick a loan recipient who needed a house loan.  After all, I work as a mortgage originator so housing is my thing.  I looked at all the housing loan possibilities. I wanted to find someone who had an achievable goal. There was a person who was at 37% of his goal. So meet Percy, he lives in Peru. He needs to build a bathroom in his house. I was able to donate $25 towards the $675. he needs. And how cool is that? His name is Percy! My little Percy cat would be proud. Act #8

The last act of the week was at a Starbucks in Reading, MA. I had 5 gift cards of $5 each. I wanted to hand them out but there was always a line of more than 5 people. I want to make people happy not tick them off.

I ordered my drink and suddenly just 3 people in line. 3 men of different ages. I said to each one, " I am buying your coffee today" as I handed them the card. They were shocked. Then they smiled and the last guy said, "You really don't have to". I said, "I know but I want to".  He had the biggest smile on his face as I walked past him and out the door. Mission accomplished. Act #9

What an adrenaline rush! I get such a high from each one of these acts.  After I complete the 26 acts I will continue my acts of kindness for sure! And if you want to be kind and donate to Brandy or Sadie's fund please email me and I will send you the info.

Act One of #26 acts

I joined Ann Curry's 26 acts last month. If you haven't heard of it, Ann Curry of NBC News asked her viewers to do 26 acts of kindness in memory of the 20 children and 6 teachers killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

I've been thinking about it and trying to decide how I can best honor those 26 lives. I've been following #26acts on Twitter and getting ideas from other participants. I thought I should do something to benefit children and I wanted it to be a New England organization.  I'll share the other things I do as I do them but this post is just about act one.

The photo above is of a birthday box or a birthday IN a box. I have created a birthday party in a box for a homeless child. I am donating this box with the Hello Kitty theme, of course, to Birthday Wishes. Birthday Wishes is a Massachusetts organization that brings birthday parties to children living in homeless shelters. They bring parties to nearly 100 shelters in the state.

The donor wraps a box in birthday paper and fills it with everything needed for a party. You can pick the gender/age and theme or chooses to donate based on gender and theme. I decided to do a party for a 5 year old girl and I chose to go with Hello Kitty paper goods. I went to Target and got 3 gifts for "my" little girl. I got her some Moonlight Fairies (so cute, they glow in the dark), a bracelet making set ( you can make and decorate little bracelets) and a sticker book with tons of stickers and reusable pages. I also bought her a little Hello Kitty purse filled with more stickers and a card game for her party. I know a 5 year old me would want these gifts and this theme.

With the box you must include party hats, decorations, tablecloth, plates, cups, napkins, balloons, candles, and juice boxes.  If the shelter has kitchen facilities, you donate a cake mix and can of frosting. Some of the children live in hotels and in this case the donor buys a gift card so a cake can be bought from the grocery store.

Today I dropped the box off at the church where Birthday Wishes has an office.  I donated the party box to a safe shelter and this means I could not hand deliver to the actual facility. Courtney who communicated with me via email to arrange everything, accepted my donation and asked me if I wanted to see the operation.  Of course I did.

There were shelves of toys, paper goods, empty wrapped boxes, and cake mixes.  I thought they really didn't need my help but Courtney told me they can be wiped out of everything at any time. In fact, she had an emergency call for 20 boxes for tomorrow. She said sometimes they receive a call from a case worker who has a client in an emergency shelter.  An emergency shelter client is someone who has fled their home because of a safety/domestic violence issue. Sometimes the case worker finds out that the child's birthday was the day before. How sad, I can't imagine it.

Courtney told me that they have a group of women that meet at the church at night and they wrap the boxes with birthday paper. It's a big help for the staff when the box is already wrapped.

I am going to ask my company to get involved, just think of how many more birthday parties we could do! If not, that's ok because I will definitely do this on my own or with a few friends and coworkers who are already interested. You get such a high from knowing you did something special for someone, even if it is a stranger. Don't you think? I think the 20 children and 6 teachers I am honoring with this act would love the idea of giving a homeless child a birthday party.

I can't wait to do the remaining 25 acts of kindness. It's going to be as good for me as for the recipients!

So here's the link again to Birthday Wishes, there's lots of volunteer opportunities if you are interested. Be sure to watch the video entitled Joy.

Harvard Square epiphany

I had a vacation day from work today and my plans got cancelled so I offered to help my sister with her Christmas shopping. She had made a list so it seemed like an easy task. She wanted me to go to one store in Harvard Square, Joie de Vivre, a small very quirky shop on Massachusetts Ave or Mass Ave as we natives call it.

The forecast was for wind driven rain but not too cold temperatures. I wore a light rain coat, blue jeans and snow boots. It was steadily raining but the monsoon had not arrived yet.

Parking was a nightmare. It usually is in that area but it was exacerbated by those doing Christmas shopping. I could not find a space near the store so I circled around to the opposite side of this busy street. I found one, not real close and the meter was for a mere 30 minutes. I hoped the meter maids did not want to go out in a nor'easter and I could be spared a ticket. I rushed out of the car and hurried to the store.

What a great store, Joie de Vivre. Lots of retro stuff, many low priced items, wacky stocking stuffers, and hilarious cards. Of course, 4 of the items on the list were sold out. So I improvised. Got some great stuff. My sister said if I found something I liked to get it because she needed a gift for me too. I bought a lamp for my new downstairs office. Photos to be posted later.

After visiting a second store, the Paper Source, for wrapping paper and a few small gifts, I took a mochaccino break at Rosie's Bakery.  At this point, the wind driven rain had arrived. I could not see my car and I figured the parking ticket was a certainty. I added a Mediterranean omelet to my drink order and I settled in to enjoy my breakfast.

Afterwards, I ventured out into the wild and wooly weather. You know, the kind of weather that if you were driving on the highway you would pull off because you couldn't see two feet in front of you. Umbrellas were virtually useless as they immediately blew inside out. I was having a hard time holding on to my 3 parcels. It took forever to cross the street, traffic, puddles, yuck!  I was not amused.

 I walked up the street a couple of blocks and could not find my car. At this point, the paper shopping bags were saturated and so was I.  One of the paper bags was starting to rip. I thought I would try to find a shop that had plastic bags and so I entered City Sports. The nice clerk said he would get me a plastic bag but came back with clear trash bags for me. He said he brought me the clear trash bags so I wouldn't look like a homeless person. Mmm, ok.

Continuing up the street, I still could not find my car. I turned and started walking in the other direction. The rain was coming down sideways and the winds were kicking up. My jeans were soaked and sticking to my legs. The water was dripping off my hair and rolling down my neck. I was getting chilled.  My bangs were so wet I had to slick them back and then the rain was hitting my face and eyelashes so hard I could hardly see. Plus when it is raining that hard it actually hurts. Real nice on my broken nose.

I walked into a store named Nomad just to get out of the rain and catch my breath. My arms were hurting from carrying my packages awkwardly so they wouldn't drag on the ground. The store had beautiful handcrafted items from all over the world. A young woman came up to me and said she would take my packages and put them behind the counter. She saw they were trash bags and then she told me she would just leave them by a display that she couldn't put them behind the counter. I told her no, she would not leave them out in the open and I took them and left the store. I am convinced she thought I was a homeless person and that's when her attitude changed.

I realized my car was not on this end of the street so I backtracked again. While I walked, I planned out all the wonderful things I was going to do when I found my car. A hot shower with my favorite Philosophy salt scrub and shower gel, a hot cup of tea and a gingerbread cookie while relaxing on the couch under my soft plush blanket. Aw, yes that will be wonderful but then my thoughts turned to the homeless. What if I were homeless and I got caught in the rainstorm and had no other clothes but the ones I had on? How would I ever get dry or warm? And how would people treat me? Would anyone help me? The temperature was scheduled to drop after today. How would I survive? I don't think I would.

Finally I found my car and I was never so happy to see it. I immediately turned up the heat to the max and I drove straight home. Christmas music on the radio and out of the rain, my mood immediately improved.

I arrived at home to see the entire contents of my recycling bin strewn across the driveway, lawn and the neighbor's property. Cat food cans everywhere, water bottles, plastic take out containers. and a Tidy Cats Kitty Litter container. As I picked up the debris it was still pouring. This discomfort is temporary I told myself.  You are minutes away from a hot shower, clean clothes and that cup of tea.

And finally, after the hot shower, I had my cup of tea and gingerbread man. While I was in the shower the sun came out!

Today's trials and tribulations had an impact on me. Just yesterday I had decided to join the 26 acts of kindness movement when a friend posted about it on Facebook. The 26 acts idea was created by NBC News' Ann Curry and was posted on Twitter at #26acts. Last night, I was thinking of doing things that the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting would have cared about but now I think my random acts of kindness will be centered on the homeless.

I found a non profit organization called Birthday Wishes and I am going to volunteer.  Their mission is to bring birthday parties to children living in shelters. Some of the shelters allow volunteers to come in and interact with the kids.  Other shelters are called safe shelters and the volunteers put together birthday boxes of gifts and supplies but they can't attend the parties. I am excited about this opportunity and I am going to round up my own group of volunteers.

So how about you? Are you in for #26acts? I did my first one today, Christmas shopping for my sister.  I have 25 more opportunities for kindness.