The Chavez Family - October Acts of Kindness

The month we chose was October.  As the leaves begin to turn and the weather gets colder, we all spend a lot more time in our cars and in our warm homes.  That is why I thought the people that could use some kindness are the ones without anything – the homeless people that frequent North Avenue, Harlem Avenue, and the expressway entrances.  

Kevin and I made goody bags filled with $5 bills, taffy apples, applesauce, chips, and chocolate.  Kevin asked, “Who are we making these for”?  I explained to him that these were for people who have no homes and were probably hungry.  He said, “that is a nice thing to do”.  

I loaded the goody bags into the passenger seat and off we went – in search of homeless people.  It took some time, but eventually I spotted a couple working the corner of North and Harlem as we sat at a red light.  Just then, the light turned green and the couple walked back to the sidewalk by Sears, heads hanging.  I pulled up and beeped my horn for the man and woman to come over.  They ran to us and I handed them several of the goody bags.  As they thanked me profusely, one of them noticed the $5 bills and started jumping up and down screaming yahoo…Thank you Thank you Thank you!  All of the cars behind me waited patiently.  

We drove throughout Oak Park, Forest Park, River Forest, and Chicago looking for more homeless people.  We found a few more after driving for an hour.  Each of them appreciated the kind gesture.

Kevin and I then went to the Bakery and bought cupcakes and cookies.  I brought the cookies to the school office the next day and thanked them for all their work.  Kevin’s Cubscout’s troup had a swimming event the week before at the YMCA, so we wrote a Thank you card and dropped off cupcakes for the staff and residents.  We then went to Hepzibah and dropped off Halloween Cupcakes and trinkets for the children there.  

I still had a number of goody bags left, so the next day I continued to roam the streets handing them out until they were gone.  I think the same guy got at least four of them, but that’s OK.  

These were small gestures that helped improve someone’s day.  We were happy to do it and look forward to hearing all the rest of the random acts of kindness.  

Thesaring all the rest of the random acts of kindness.  

The Kindness Project - by Ella and Lauren Taira

PROJECT 1:

For our first act of kindness, we decided to go to Portillo's and pay for two people's meals through the drive-through. We decided to do this act through the drive-through so it would be anonymous. For the first car, we did not receive a reaction from the people. For the second car, we received a "thank you". After this act we decided to make our acts of kindness person-to-person so hopefully, we could receive more of a reaction. Also, for this act, it didn’t feel like we were really spreading the kindness because we were not able to tell the recipients our motives and to spread the kindness.

PROJECT 2:

For our second act of kindness, we paid for a family's dinner at the restaurant "Margaritas". The family was selected by Nick, and consisted of two parents and their two young girls. We chose a family that would most likely be done eating before us so they could come over and we could see their reactions. When they finished their meal, the family came over and thanked us. They also mentioned how they had been coming to the restaurant for years, just like our family, so we figured it was a good pick. They were very appreciative of our act and hopefully spread the kindness elsewhere. With the hope that they would carry on the kindness, we felt we had successfully completed part our kindness mission. We always go to "Margaritas" and have always loved the food and the people there so we thought buying someone's dinner was the best idea because of the fact that we're so used to the atmosphere. Everyone is always in a good mood while we're there and why not make them feel even better by surprising them with dinner on us.

PROJECT 3:

For our third and final act of kindness, we bought donuts and coffee for the River Forest fire and police departments. We picked this task because we thought that the fire/police men were deserving of a nice treat, especially because they do so much for us and our community. We purchased two dozen assorted donuts and a 1 lb. bag of coffee. We went to the police/fire station and had some trouble figuring out where to go. Since it was a Sunday, it was very empty and we couldn't find anyone to give the donuts to. Nick was very frustrated with the transaction because of the fact that we couldn't find any people. We eventually found a fireman and a policeman and gave them the donuts and coffee. They were very appreciative of our gift and thanked us for it.  We felt like the smaller acts of kindness were the best because of the fact that they were so unexpected. You could tell the police officer was a little confused and thought we were looking for someone specific but it was nice to see how happy they were when they realized it was just to be kind.

Being Kind = Teaching Moment

The Smiths are in the books!

Yesterday was the 1^st annual Kindness Day for the Smith Household.

We started the day by purchasing food for the Oak Park / River Forest Food Panty.  It was a great opportunity to explain to Max how fortunate some families are and how it is great to help families who are less fortunate.   

On the way out of Jewel Max gave $$$ to a gentleman who was soliciting for The Salvation Army.

After dropping the food at the food-bank we stopped at Chipotle where we bought lunch for two Chicago Policeman.    They were incredibly appreciative.  Max thanked them for their work and got a couple of high-fives.

On the way out of Chipotle we noticed a woman struggling with the electronic parking payment system so we helped out and paid for her parking!

We then headed to Sugar Fix and bought a dozen cupcakes for the River Forest Fire Department.   Lieutenant Chris was very appreciative and ended up showing Max every detail of the new ladder truck.

On the way to dinner that night we gave $10 to a guy who was in need and looking for $$$ to get into a shelter.

All in all, a fantastic way to spend a day.   

The Plancons act to bring happiness in the midst of loss

From Amanda Plancon

How to spend the $250 emanating from our wonderful Kindness Club? While the idea of donating it to a random stranger was appealing, due to the cruelest of circumstances, we knew friends who were enduring the utmost pain – the loss of their beloved mother/wife this past January. 

Many of you knew Kathleen K. personally, or if you didn’t, you heard of her, and her incredible battle against metastatic breast cancer. She was a miracle; for five long years she fought with every fibre of her being to resist her illness and defied the most incredible odds. She was a miracle too in how she transformed this community of River Forest and much further afield. Through her, a whole community of women in particular was forged, who were inspired by her, and who loved her deeply. It’s so hard to try and describe in a few words here all the ways she impacted so many peoples’ lives, and taught so many of us what really matters. Perhaps our most vivid memories of her will be her wicked sense of humor and the belly laughs it triggered all-around, the tight loving hugs she doled out, but most of all, the most incredible all-consuming and all-powerful love you could ever witness of a mother for her darling children, Niklas, Patrick and Liadain.   Kathleen was the best. Her children and ever-strong husband Jochen, are the best.

The purpose of this Kindness Club was to bring a little happiness. We wanted to do something for the kids who have been through so much, and we ended up focusing on Liadain. A small gesture that we were able to provide for her was to use some of the money to enroll her in some fun afternoon classes involving art, nature and movement, for Kindergarteners at the River Forest Park District. She’s loved it. Annie Dwyer and Bekka Kieffer also very kindly made arrangements to do all the driving back and forth. The remaining monies were given to Jochen to use as he wished. One idea was to help Lia explore her budding love for gymnastics. After some back and forth with Jochen on that point, he decided he wanted to wait a little before going forward with that, so we’re hoping that we can make that happen for her in the fall. If you’re interested in helping, we’d love to hear from you.

Lastly, we want to take this opportunity to say how incredibly great this Club is. Mike and I feel so privileged to have met and made friends with people like yourselves who want to make a difference. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts for that gift. You inspire us.

The  Plancons

Rubys serve up love and kindness on Valentine's Day

From Emily Ruby

Like most things, ideas overwhelmed the intent. I started running scenarios about how to do the most good with that 250 dollars. How many people could we do something nice for? What is the threshold for it being meaningful? How much per person? Quality vs. Quantity?

It was valentine's day and the kids had a half day. We were crowded into a booth at Louie's grill. I had big plans buckets of flowers handed out to strangers, or maybe a shelter, or maybe the retirement home? I was totally distracted.  Everything was taking  longer than normal. The kids were getting restless. You could hear the waitress talking patiently with the table of two older ladies behind us.

"Now you know I don't like cheese on my omelet"

"I know Mary, I have you covered. I know what you like."

"No onions either, sometimes they try to slip them in"

"I"ll watch them, like a hawk I promise"

Our waitress came to our table with a big smile.  The kids were cranky, she slipped them special valentines fruit loops, charmed them and joked with them. Took our order and had it back to us before the kids could get any more desperate.  We tore through the special heart shaped pancakes, and watched her check in with seemingly every table in the place.  Mary from the booth next to us came over to chat. She was hilarious telling the kids about her grandson who was their age. Owen asked her to be his valentine. She blushed saying no one had asked her to be their valentine since her husband died 10 years ago.  He pulled out a valentine he made at school from his backpack and gave it to her. She hugged him and headed back to her table. Mary got the check and I heard her counting out change on the table with her friend. They slid change across the table splitting it exactly down the middle.

All that fretting, worrying about the best use for the kindness money. I missed the point, there is always need around everywhere. To spend too much time choosing between them, defeats the purpose. It's like hoarding joy to get the biggest rush.  I walked up to the cashier, paid for our meal and Mary and her friends and gave our waitress a $200 tip. Left before they knew about it.  It was fun to put a little random back into the random act of kindness. 

Spreading the Love on MLK Jr. Day

Lundak Family Kind Deed

January 20, 2014
MLK Jr. Day

We were honored (and intimidated) to do the first ever BCE Kindness Club deed. Here's what we did and what we learned from the experience. 

What we did…

We wanted to do something connected to MLK day where we could give a dose of happiness to people who are in need of a little love or appreciation. As MLK preached, the way to end hate is with love. 

So, we considered how to spread the love. We thought about doing something nice for police or firemen, nursing homes and hospitals. Ultimately we chose a nursing home – as they often have residents without much outside interaction and caregivers who are unsung heroes.  

For our deed we made 20 flower arrangements, bought 30 big cookies and $50 dollars of Starbucks gift cards ($5 each). The boys made cards to go in each arrangement and we attached tags that said:

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
Philo of Alexandria
With love from bcekind@gmail.com 

We delivered the goods on MLK day. We had alerted the activity director at Mayfield Care Center that morning that we were coming, but we didn’t give details. When we arrived, the caregivers were surprised and full of smiles to see the flowers and cookies. They made an announcement through the building PA system of our gift and were visibly touched. It was humbling for us…since we weren't doing it for any recognition. But they wanted to show their appreciation, so we blushed while they continued to thank us. 

They decided to put all the flowers on tables in the dining hall where we saw the residents eating lunch. The cookies and coffee were for the caregivers who ironically were having a trivia contest later that day and could use the items as prizes. There were lots of hugs and applause for the gesture. Afterwards, the activity director called our friend who recommended Mayfield to tell her how much she loved what we'd done for them. 

Who we did it for…

Mayfield Care Center – 5905 Washington, Chicago

Located in the Austin neighborhood it is a 5 star rated CMS facility and was recommended by a friend who works for the West Side and Austin newspapers.

How we felt…

It’s a humbling experience to do something nice for someone – especially people you do not know. It was such a small thing, but the appreciation was so great.

As Lincoln said as we left “I feel so happy” – complete with a little booty shake.

The BCE Random Acts of Kindness Club 2014

Here's how it works...

The club is a monthly commitment with 13 members (one member = a household) in year one. 

Every month club members put in $20 which goes into a pot and the host kicks in an extra $10. (For you liberal arts majors, if there are 12 families that's $250 to use for the month). 

One family then hosts the club each month. This means they get to identify an act of kindness to complete using all the money in the pot. It can be something as random as buying someone's groceries in line at the Jewel or something more formal like working with a local charity to identify a family who needs some extra help. 

There are no stipulations except that you need to use the money for good and be prepared to share your act with the rest of the club. The host then shares the deed by holding a small get together where we all get to hear about the act (and maybe have a few beers or coffee - you choose). We will plan to meet every 2 months to share our goodness. 

The outcome serves a few purposes...

1.  It is another way to build community with the BCE.

2. It allows us all - as families- to spend a small amount of time on a regular basis to pay attention and help others around us.  And since we are all pretty darn fortunate, it's a small thing that may mean a big difference for our kids as well as ourselves. 

3. It may just spark others to do good and spread kindness in ways we may never see. 

We’ve also set up an email address in case you want to include a way to contact the group as part of your kind deed. It is bcekind@gmail.com

Let’s all crush 2014 with kindness!