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Random (holiday) acts of kindness

KittyY

KittyY

Who is Dol-say and Gab-anna?
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Jul 19, 2014
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I love doing fun random acts of kindness (RAK) for people during this season. I think with all the negativity in the air this year, I really want to kick it up a notch

Our family is sponsoring a family this year. Yes, we've done this before - but this one is different. They just moved to the US from Brazil 2 mths ago and have nothing. They aren't asking for help and working as many jobs as possible. Very inspiring. So I rounded up some neighbors and we are shopping like mad crazy elves!

What RAK do you do? (it's ok to share! It's not bragging - it inspires others!)
 
we donate to food and present colections for those in need. i need a bit of good karma amd believe what goes around comes around
 
How exciting @KittyY! It makes me so happy to hear stories about acts of kindness!

My kids are teens and every year we buy too much stuff for them that they never use. For example, I see a sweater that I think my daughter will love, so I buy it for Christmas. She has strong opinions about her clothes now, so she would never wear the sweater, but didn't want to hurt my feelings so she wouldn't return it either. I have bought my kids pj's every year, but they recently informed me that they prefer to wear t-shirts and sweats or shorts. All money wasted. So, we had a talk this year that we're cutting back on Christmas presents... they will get some things off of their lists and a couple small surprises thrown in... but that I was done guessing just to have presents under the tree. Instead... we were going to use that money we would have normally spent on "surprises" to give back. The kids are totally excited about it!

We did two things through our church so far. Our church has a tutoring program and we picked two kids (similar in age to our kids) to buy for. We also filled gift bags for two of the meals ministry guests. Both of those were very specific in the guidelines of what to buy... but we did have fun decorating the meal ministry bags with items I printed out from TLP!

My daughter's dance studio has a "toy drive" for a charity that serves kids up to 18... so we usually buy fun Bath and Bodyworks stuff for the older kids. BUT... we totally missed the deadline (December 3rd! Who would have thought it would be that early?!)... so now I'm on the hunt for another organization to donate this stuff to since I have a bag full of shower gels and lotions sitting in my closet.

We're on the hunt for more opportunities, and we have thoroughly enjoyed what we've done so far!
 
Several years ago I suggested to my book club that we donate books to our local library's program to give new books to needy children & teens for Christmas. Literacy and fostering a love of reading and learning are causes near and dear to me. Each year I love taking a big bag of books to donate to the program.
 
My friend does something so cool - that I swear one day I'll have my act together to do it!

She buys an inexpenisve fun chunky necklace for every day in December and whenever someone compliments her on it, she takes it off right there and hands it to them! HOW FUN IS THAT?!
 
KittyY said:
My friend does something so cool - that I swear one day I'll have my act together to do it!

She buys an inexpenisve fun chunky necklace for every day in December and whenever someone compliments her on it, she takes it off right there and hands it to them! HOW FUN IS THAT?!
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What a delightful and fun idea!
 
Our family sponsored an elderly gentleman this year from my hubby's angel tree at work. He only listed that he was an Alabama fan, with no sizes or anything else (LOL), so he got a fabulously warm Alabama blanket and a huge Alabama mug.

I'm not sure what else we'll be doing this year. My cousin just posted today that someone paid for her order at Starbucks. I think the next time I am in line somewhere, I'll do that. It's just a nice little pick-me-up.
 
I have a RAK calendar for December at school. There are a few on it that we are not able to do, but I have the students choose one every day that we can do. We have done things like tape change to the vending machine, leave random kind notes on lockers, make new friends, clean up the school yard, etc. One of them was to candy cane bomb the parking lot but the principal wouldn't let us do that one :(

We also take up money at work within our dept, instead of buying gifts for each other and donate it or a food basket to a needy family.

DH texted me the other day that the person in front of him paid for his breakfast at Burger King. I told him he now has to do the same for someone else :)
 
IntenseMagic said:
I have a RAK calendar for December at school. There are a few on it that we are not able to do, but I have the students choose one every day that we can do. We have done things like tape change to the vending machine, leave random kind notes on lockers, make new friends, clean up the school yard, etc. One of them was to candy cane bomb the parking lot but the principal wouldn't let us do that one :(

We also take up money at work within our dept, instead of buying gifts for each other and donate it or a food basket to a needy family.

DH texted me the other day that the person in front of him paid for his breakfast at Burger King. I told him he now has to do the same for someone else
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Wow - you're awesome!! But I GOTTA know what a peppermint bomb is?!!!
 
I've been trying to keep my eyes open and even offer a couple times but so far I haven't found my RAK. Love the necklace idea. The Angel Tree is downtown and so I hope to go next week.
 
KittyY said:
Wow - you're awesome!! But I GOTTA know what a peppermint bomb is?!!!
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It's pretty much just going around a parking lot and leaving candy canes and a RAK note on the windshield wipers of cars. We wanted to do it in the student parking lot, but the principal was afraid too many would just leave them behind and someone would have to clean them up. We are going to ask again if maybe we could do it in the teacher lot, where they will be more responsible hahaha.
 
This is the calendar we are using at school...not really following the days, but picking and choosing things we can do. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow, the 9th :giggle

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Someone doorbell ditched a plant on my doorstep. It's just a little thing, but it makes me so happy to have it on my table.
 
About 2 weeks ago, there was a lonely older man eating at Applebee's. He was seated across the aisle from us. I paid for his meal and tip.

Every year we pick 1 or 2 kids, and 1 or 2 elderly wishes from the Giving Tree and fulfill those. If it's a year we can do more, we do.
 
I definitely need to incorporate more RAK into my Christmas. We do pick out a gift from the World Vision catalog, where we sponsor 2 kids...but that's not super tangible for my kids. I need to do more day to day stuff. I love that calendar that Jan posted.
 
Scrapping with Liz said:
I definitely need to incorporate more RAK into my Christmas. We do pick out a gift from the World Vision catalog, where we sponsor 2 kids...but that's not super tangible for my kids. I need to do more day to day stuff. I love that calendar that Jan posted.
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my husband and I "gave each other goats and chickens" through World Vision for christmas. lol It was provision for 2 families :)
 
i started walking an elderly neighbors paper up to his door. it's small but makes his life so much easier!
 
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