Thursday, November 27, 2014

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.