Oh. My. Goodness.
The kindness filled the
room!!
We hosted a Kindness
Activist Volunteer Thank You party this weekend and wow – I am speechless.
There was just SO. MUCH. LOVE!
When you plan a party, you
never know how many people will come. I
mean, if it is family you can pretty much count on people (unless, of
course, the flu hits…), but when it is community members who have pitched in
and volunteered for a cause… How do you
project numbers?
We sent out invites and
asked for RSVPs. I think lots of invites
ended up in spam folders, so I tried to text or message people, too. And
still, I know that some of those who were invited never got the message (I know
this because I ran into one of the people the night before the event and
casually mentioned it. They were like, “What
party?”. Oops.)
So let me say this from
the get-go – if you volunteered with Kindness Activist the past year and did
not get an invite to the event, it is probably in your spam or promotions
folder. I am sorry.
I was afraid we might have
booked an amazingly beautiful and big venue (The Cooperative Plaza Conference
Center in Ballston) and would have only the party planning crew (me, Ixi,
Kathleen, Betsy, and Heather), a few close friends, plus of course David (the
husband for scale) who I had asked to take the night off of rehearsal show up
for the big event.
But the people who turned
out… WE HAD FUN! Like, seriously good fun!
Y’all – there were over
100 people there!
People of ALL ages. Of all nationalities. Of different faith beliefs. Of different social economic statuses.
We were a diverse group
with one very important thing in common – we all believe in the power of kindness. And you better believe we celebrated!
We had face painters! Thank you to Gray, Dally, and Johanna – you did
amazing work and the kids loved it.
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| VERY happy guest with face paint (who also wore a light up tutu!) |
We had a photo booth with old
school printed strips of 3 photos – thank you Eugene you were so patient and
sweet (and busy).
We had a craft table –
people make their own kindness coasters to bring home and they turned out soooo
cute! Thank you Katherine, Emily, and Karen
– you went through a lot of modge podge
and made people very happy.
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| Katherine assisting A in making a coaster |
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| Just a few of the MANY beautiful coasters made! |
We had amazing raffle
prizes and very excited winners!
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| Kids getting ready to reach into the bags and choose the raffle winners |
We had kid art on every
table and all around the room!
We had FOOD – oh we had
lots of food! Cake, petite fours,
brownies, blondies, sandwiches, sliders, chips, nuts, veggies, fruit, cheese,
crackers, bread… And CANDY – boy did we
go through a lot of candy.
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| The room as the first guests arrived |
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| Food table and guests |
It was just so amazing to
see these people all together in one room.
The joy and happiness and KINDNESS that emanated filled my heart with
happiness.
And so many kind things
happened at the event itself – unplanned of course.
For example, three volunteers
won t-shirts for helping us for over 50 hours – Danyi, Ixi, and Teresa. Instead of keeping the shirt, one of them gave
it to a French exchange student who had come to the party with a volunteer
because he is trying to do “all the American things” while he is here. What a great example of American kindness.
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| Two of our VERY dedicated volunteers |
And this is a fun
one. I was walking around right before I
planned to do a little speech, and I noted that one of the volunteers who is a
sign language interpreter had ended up at the same table as other volunteers
who are Deaf. “Kismet!” I thought as I walked
up. “You found one another!” I told
them. Nope – they had not realized the
connection, that they all use ASL!! The
Deaf couple had planned to use a speech to text app, but because the
interpreter was there and willing, she interpreted the speech. Thank you Jennifer!
Friends were made at the
event. Two or three people have
contacted me since the party telling me about the fun person they met and will
stay in contact with.
Not one but two new
volunteers were involved with the event.
Both had independently reached out to me in the weeks leading up to the
party explaining that they were government employees who had just lost their
jobs in the huge cuts that are hitting our community so badly. Both were at a very difficult time in their lives,
but they had realized that volunteering, helping spread kindness, might make
them feel better. One explained that she
wanted a volunteer opportunity where it would be ok if she broke down and cried
in the middle of it. Say no more –
please come help us set up! So nice to
meet a new friend.
Kids were involved in the party
and they were so proud. We told the
stories of some of the youth involvement and other children who were present
have been inspired to start planning. A friend
reached out today saying her son is talking about hosting a lemonade stand
(like 2 girls whose story we shared at the party).
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| These Kind Kids all held fundraisers for Kindness Activist |
A kind neighbor, Mandy,
designed the beautiful invitation (thank you Mandy!). She
offered to make a print of the invite, sans words, for the event. It was going to be a raffle prize, but then
it hit me: our friend and volunteer from
Ukraine, Nina. The print was of
sunflowers, which represent her homeland.
It was meant for her. Nina’s
daughter was sick and they were also very sad the day of the event, so they
could not attend. But I showed the
guests the sunflower print, explained it would go to Nina’s family, and asked
everyone to hold Ukraine in their hearts and pray for peace.
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| Beautiful framed sunflower print – artwork by Mandy Wylie |
One thing I shared was the
success of the 2024 Kindness Fundraising Sale.
We had kept the amount we raised a secret so that we could share it with
the volunteers first. Now that they
know, we can share the details far and wide:
Around 110 amazing volunteers
put in over 500 volunteer hours on the Fundraising Sale.
These volunteers were recognized
as Fundraiser Rock Stars:
· Julia – flew in all the way from Florida to volunteer
· Danyi – worked herself to the bone
· Kathleen – guarded the volunteer room the entire time
so that we could leave valuables there without worrying
· Jennifer, Ferdousi, Yousef, Emily, Andrew, Laurie,
Leah, Suzy, Danyi and more – worked very late into the night packing everything
up
· Ixi and Mac – showed up all the time at a moment’s
notice to help
· Andrew – just moved to the area, showed up to help clean
up but had no idea what he had gotten himself into and worked late into
the night
· Ludjmilla – who played bad cop to our good cop at the
check-out counter. She is an amazing negotiator. She helped people understand the “pay what
you wish” concept and that this was a fundraiser for a very worthy cause.
I explained that we were
nervous about the 2024 event. We had two
years worth of donations (the 2023 sale was cancelled twice due to rain). We moved to a new location – inside a local
church instead of outside our home where the event has been for years. At our house, we have drive-by and walk-by
traffic galore. At the church, we would
be indoors… And, we have traditionally
held the sale for 4 days (we advertise it for 2, then inevitably continue the
next weekend because there are still lots of items left). But with the rental on the church, we would
be strictly limited to the 2 days…
So, we were nervous about how
much we could raise.
But we needn’t have
worried.
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| Shhh – preparing to turn around for the BIG REVEAL! |
The 2024 Kindness
Fundraiser raised a total of $13,829.01!!!
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| $13,829.01 (the penny is not pictured 🙂 ) |
Isn’t that
unbelievable? Just imagine the amount of
kindness that can be spread with that.
The 2024 Kindness Activist
Volunteer of the Year was also named at the party – Ixi. She is so very supportive of the cause. She is a board member, a pantry crew member,
and has brought her whole family into the fold to help out.
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| Volunteer of the Year |
In case you haven’t
guessed it from reading this story, the Kindness Activist Volunteer Party gave
me hope. It gave me joy, and energy, and
lifted my spirits. It reminded me of some
of the amazing people I am so lucky to know.
And it reinforced my believe
that we can make the world a kinder place, one small act of kindness at a time.
Interested in joining the
team and volunteering with Kindness Activist?
We would love to have you!! Just email
KindnessActivist@gmail.com with
your name, email address, and phone number to be added to our volunteer
list. Follow us on Facebook (Kindness
Activist) to see calls for volunteers.
And if you have photos of
the thank you event – please send them our way to KindnessActivist@gmail.com .
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ROLLS
UP THEIR SLEEVES AND GETS INVOLVED. You
are appreciated.
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| The Claw Game was a noisy hit |
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| Volunteer of the Year |
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| Welcome table |
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| THANK YOU! |
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| And a good time was had by all! |
