It’s been a while since I have
shared an update about how Kindness Activist funds have been used, so today’s
the day! Ready?
Here are just a few of the
ways that money has been spent to spread kindness lately:
GARDENS!
Here at Kindness Activist,
we love gardens! Flowers, veggies, fruit
trees, you name it – gardens are great! Given
that love, it was an easy decision to support 2 Arlington based gardens with
kindness funds.
First – the Walter Reed Annex
Community Garden. This amazing resource
is managed by a lovely neighbor, Ljudmilla.
She is a very kind and wise woman who runs this huge community endeavor.
And
when I say “community”, this work DEFINES community! Volunteers come to the garden every Saturday
between 8:30 am – 11:30 am to weed, plant, dig, harvest… Those amazing volunteers do everything
GARDEN (including sweat). This
incredible resource then donates what is grown to help feed the
community! And we are not talking small
donations here either. They donate thousands
of pounds of healthy, fresh produce to the Arlington Food Assistance Center
(AFAC), to local elementary school food pantries, and even the Little Yellow
Free Pantry is lucky enough to get veggies sometimes, too! So, when
we read that the garden was going to put up a SEED LIBRARY, well, it was a
no-brainer that Kindness Activist should help out with some packets of
seeds.
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| Adorable new seed library! |
If you or your organization
would like to get involved and help garden, please email: [email protected]
. After all, what could be more fun (and
meaningful) than getting some dirt under your fingernails and helping feed
neighbors at the same time??
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| Ljudmilla in her happy place – the garden |
The next garden kindness
funds were used to support this season is the Thomas Jefferson Community Garden,
located at a middle school in South Arlington, VA. This is another amazing local resource that
not only donates produce to the community, but also teaches local children about
organic food and gardening.
I learned they could use
some support when I saw this message on a Facebook group that I belong to: “ISO
50’ garden hose and watering wand attachment.
I help manage the Thomas Jefferson Middle school garden and we are in
need of a couple hoses that are in decent condition. If you have one you no
longer need, please let me know. Thanks!”.
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| Thomas Jefferson Garden |
Well, a garden as important
and active as TJ needs good equipment. I
reached out to the person who posted asking for hoses and a wind and asked for recommendations
of which ones they would prefer. I am
pleased to say that the volunteer gardeners at TJ now have 2 new hoses and 2
lovely watering wands to help cultivate their crops!
Kindness Activist funds
spent: $149.14
VERY HOT this spring and summer. This can
be uncomfortable for everyone of course, but it can cause more than discomfort
for people without housing. Extreme heat
can be very dangerous. Several guests of
the Little Yellow Free Pantry do not have housing, so are outside in the
extreme temperatures. Two guests were
still sporting long pants in the 100 degree heat, but were hoping for some
shorts to help cool off.
We found some good shorts
online that are comfortable, cool, and fast drying. And as luck would have it, they came in a
pack of 3. So, not only did the 2 pantry
guests get new clothes for summer, so did another person experiencing
homelessness that was in desperate need of shorts. This small expenditure will hopefully help 3
people have a better summer.
Kindness Activist funds
spent: $21.21
Ok, ok, ok, I did it – I clicked
on a Facebook ad! But in my defense, I couldn’t
help it! They showed it to me so many
times, and, well, it looked so cool that I simply HAD to click!
And that “click” is how we
ended up having “You Are Awesome” pop up on our sidewalk when it rained.
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| Shhh – and now we wait for the rain… |
You see, Rainworks is a
product that you spray on a dry concrete surface (using a stencil), then when
it rains, your “secret message” shows up!
Oh, it is fun! I am hoping to find
someone with a Cricut who can make us more plastic stencils that say things
like “Kind Is Cool” and “Kind Kids Rock”.
That way, when the skies are gray and the raindrops fall, at least the
sidewalks will be cheery!
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| You are AWESOME! |
P.S. – have a Cricut and
some time to create? Email us at [email protected]! We would appreciate some stencils for
creating rainy day messages!
Kindness Activist funds
spent: $26.66
When a neighbor was
looking for snacks for the teacher’s lounge of a local elementary school,
Kindness Activist was quick to jump in. I
mean, if TEACHERS don’t deserve snacks, then who does?? Plus, it was teacher appreciation week!
The neighbor told me, “We have
a project of revamping the teacher’s lounge. Sadly, the staff lounge is not at
all a place for them to relax and take a break. They deserve the world”.
I agree – teachers deserve
the world! They work so, so hard to
ensure that their students are safe, engaged in the classroom, and
thriving. Teachers deserve snacks!!
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| Teacher SNAAAACKS |
This was an easy wish to
grant. As I told the neighbor, I wish we
could grant MASSAGES for all of the school staff, but snacks will have to do.
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| And snacks in the Teacher’s Lounge – ready for educators to come munch on |
Kindness Activist funds
spent: $76.91
And last (but not least)
for this accounting report – random food deliveries 😊 . My partner David and I love to grocery shop
(in fact, we went to a grocery store on our very first date, and we have been
shopping together for over 37 now). So,
often when we go to the store, we spring a special grocery delivery on a
neighbor (usually people we have never met).
It works like this:
We do 2 shops – one for
us, and one for a random person. We separate
the items in our cart – “ours” and “theirs”.
Then we take all of “their” items out of the cart and take a photo of
David holding everything. It is quite
funny (and tricky to find a way for him to hold it all without dropping it).
Then I post in a local Facebook
group: “It’s (insert day of week) night
and you know what that means… Kindness
Activist would like to deliver (insert meal – breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks…
here).”
Then we list everything
included in the offer.
The post continues: “Person
chosen must be available via Facebook messenger to arrange delivery to take
place before (insert time). Preference given to someone who has not received a
meal delivery from Kindness Activist before. Person chosen must come out to our
car (in front of where you live) to pick up when we pull up. Not necessarily giving to the first person
who responds.”
I post, we wait a bit for
responses, then choose someone who we have never treated before! We bring the groceries to their home and get
to meet them, which is always fun! We
really like doing these deliveries and the recipients are always very grateful.
Here are a few we have done
recently:
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| Red, White, and Blue edition for 4th of July |
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| Breakfast edition |
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| Snack edition |
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| Breakfast again |
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| Green edition for St. Patrick’s Day |
Average cost of each
surprise grocery delivery: $35
Thanks for following along
in the Kindness Activist journey. We believe
that spreading kindness makes the world a better place, and we appreciate the
love, encouragement, and support we receive from the community.
Together, we can make the
world kinder. One little act of kindness
at a time.
