FILL WITH KINDNESS--Random Acts of Kindness

When Mandy registered her older daughter for Girl Scouts five years ago, her daughter was placed in our Daisy troop.  A couple years later, her younger girls joined the troop, and Mandy agreed to serve as one of our co-leaders.  Last spring, Mandy and her husband decided to home school their three daughters.  As part of their lessons, they wanted to conduct a social experiment.  Mandy wanted to show her kids how “one single act of kindness can create an amazing domino effect.” She created a Fill With Kindness logo and printed tags that were attached to everything that was distributed.  These tags encouraged people to share their stories on a Facebook page she set up specifically for this experiment:    https://www.facebook.com/fillwithkindness 

 

Over the years, Mandy and I have become great friends.  She wanted to celebrate her birthday this year by blessing others.  Since we share the same birthday, she invited my girls and me to join them for this special day.  After days of preparation—baking, wrapping, sorting, and mapping—she was ready, and so were we!  Here is the itinerary we followed for the day:

    1.    Mail a surprise gift to someone.

    2.   Leave baked goods for the Post Woman.

    3.   Distribute homemade treats to the neighbors.  For something quick and easy, check out these Brookies!  

    4.   Deliver a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” package to a new neighbor. Decorate a paper plate with a diagram of the street and label with the names of the neighbors.  Cover the plate with plastic wrap so the marker doesn’t bleed onto the food.  Arrange the baked goods on the plate and cover with more plastic wrap.  Add a bow and a gift tag.  

     5.   Deliver baked goods to the following:

•          Pediatrician’s Office
•         Library (may also donate gently used books)
•         Fire Stations 
•          Police Department  

     

     6.   Donate old towels, dog toys, and pet beds to a local animal shelter.

     7.   Deliver blankets and pillowcases for children receiving treatment at Cincinnati 

         Children’s Hospital and Shriners Hospital.  These hospitals are across the 

         street from each other and both greatly appreciated the donations.  Get  
         a group together and make pillowcases to donate.  For tips for hosting a 

         successful pillowcase event, check out this post.

     8.   Deliver toiletries and pop tabs to Ronald McDonald House.  

     9.   Donate Girl Scout cookies and tissue paper flowers to Fisher House.  The 

       Fisher House provides veterans and their families a place to stay while they   
       are receiving medical treatment at the VA Medical Center.  Make extra flowers 
       and visit residents in a nearby nursing home.

    10.While bumping around town, have some spare change and feed parking 

         meters.  Pick up some lottery tickets and leave them on the windshields 
         of cars in parking lots.  If it is raining, protect the lottery tickets by sealing
        them inside a snack-sized baggie.

11.Stop for lunch and leave a generous tip for the server.

Many families are gearing up for the last day of school and summer vacation.  Do you struggle to keep your children entertained during the summer?  This post offers plenty of ways to keep kids busy, and they’ll discover these activities are extremely rewarding—for the recipients of the donations as well as for themselves.  Have a wonderful summer!  Thank you for reading!