remember to spread the kind words...

Today is Monday May 10th. What a great day! I have so much to be thankful for, yet I feel sad for how I discover how much I am thankful for because sometimes others aren't as fortunate. That's why we DO random acts of kindness...to make their day, right? But you have to help me to feel like it's doing some good, can you do that? For those who haven't found their happiness, every night I include them in my prayers, asking God to help them, and then I thank Him and my angels for blessing me and my family in so many ways. I have 4 beautiful and wonderful children, a significant other that is 2nd to none, a fantastic career at a company that I am so proud to work at, and wonderful wonderful friends and neighbors. There isn't anything else I need or want to make me happier, the rest are just materials. And that's why I want to give to others. Any random act or gesture I can offer to anyone to share the happiness that I get to feel every day of my life. Maybe they are happy too, so another act of kindness is only going to make it even better!

Today I searched online for more ideas for upcoming outings I am going to make to fulfill my 2010 goals. And I came across so many wonderful wonderful ideas!! One of them I want to share with you!! Gather children in the neighborhood and do various activities like bake cookies together and deliver them in little packages to other neighbors, sick people, or a nursing home, or hold a free neighborhood carnival. So, I created some invitations to form a neighborhood RAoK committee!!! With the neighborhood kids (and parents if they want to) we could really make a great impact! I can't wait! What a GREAT idea for summer activities with the neighborhood kids! And when I'm at work, I'm sure they will be working on some of these projects! I am SOOOOO excited! And I encourage any parents out there to try this in their neighborhoods too! I can share so many fantabulous ideas I found!!! Email me if you want prudy358@yahoo.com subject line RAoK 2010.

Big Hugs everyone!! MUAH!!

~ Prudy

***Making little ripples of kindness will cause a tidal wave of happy people in our community.***

My story went in the Gillette Newsletter that I mentioned in a previous post, so be on the lookout for their newsletter!

I made a conscious effort to log in more often and report some more Random Acts. Since last time here are a couple things I've been doing:

At work they started offering 15 min chair massages on Fridays for $10 per spot. When I emailed to reserve a spot they said there is already a waiting list!! Wow! High demand! So I thought to myself, since this is such a hot item right now, would better way to make someone's day than to anonymously reserve a 15 min chair massage? So I did. The person found out today that they are scheduled for a massage at work!! How wonderful!!

A very close and dear person to me was venting about how hard she is working at getting her degree and has many children to care for: hence the reason for her going for her degree! I let her vent and was a good listener. When she was done, I told her lets get in your car and go for a quick ride to the gas station. And I filled her tank with gas. She tried to resist my offer, but I told her she knows I have been randomly helping other people, so what better time than now to randomly help someone who is trying SO hard, doing a fantastic job, and deserves it just as much as the next person does. She was SOOOOO happy and gracefully accepted! It made my day!

More to come!!! I pinkie swear that...

things are getting exciting!!!

#5

The kids and I, and my sister-in-law Tonya, (THANK YOU TONYA!!!) made out 165 valentines to bring to Good Shepherd Nursing Home. (I know I've been too busy to get on the computer since then to update, sickness in the house, and I've had 2 different viruses since then, so now is the first time I've had the time to sit down at the computer. Some people might think this whole thing is for people who have extra time on their hands...but they can think again, because we are probably one of the most busiest families around!) :0) So, my 2 daughters & I went to the nursing home and spent a couple hours there handing out Valentines, and sugar free candies (so the diabetic people can have some too) and it was so wonderful! At first my girls were a little scared to go into their rooms, and kind of pushed me in first to hand them their treat and valentine. But it didn't take long, and once my girls saw how easy it was to just say "Hi!! We're here just handing out Valentines to you and bringing a little treat." And they would sit up, come to life, and just smile and say "Wow, thank you!" and they would ask what grade they are in or what school they go to, and just loved the company. Soon they were fighting over who got the next room, so I had to give one of them the right side of the hallways, and the other the left side. It was so sweet!! So I joked with them as we were leaving and said, soooooo....since we handed out 165 of those, when I enter my log it could TECHNICALLY be #5 - #170, right?" We giggled, and I think they knew I wouldn't do such a thing!

#6

I follow the story of Ian Hoy on caring bridge and his mom always talks so wonderful about the Gillette Children's Hospital. So, being my little random self, after reading one of her journal entries, I hopped over to the Gillette website and looked for a donation spot. I couldn't find one so I emailed them and asked for some help. Jenny responded and guided me to a link where I could make an automatic donation every month. She asked if I had been there or have kids that had help there, and I told her, no, I've never been there, and I have been blessed with 3 healthy kids. (knocking on wood) But to know that so many people rave about how wonderful your facility is and how fantastic the staff are to their children and the families, makes me feel 100% sure that I want to contribute to that! Our kids deserve the best care possible and I try to be realistic that, yeah, a day might come that I might end up there with one of my kids or grandkids some day. anyway, long story short, they were so excited about my response that they asked if they could include me in their newsletter and guess what!???? They are including our random acts of kindness blogspot in their newsletter! :) So you are all going to be famous now!!! :) NOW do you want to be followers?????? Ha, I thought so! I'll post the link to the newsletter as soon as I get it!

Big Hugs Tonight!
(¨`·.·´¨)
`·. Prudy

OH ~ and don't forget...Making little ripples of kindness will cause a tidal wave of happy people in our community.

#4 Post Office Madness

Waiting in line at the Post Office there was a couple and their young son with 2 big boxes of envelopes who purchased many sheets of stamps. They shuffled out of line and moved their supplies to the counter and started applying their stamps. It looked like it would take an hour or longer. I stepped out of the line, jumped in the minivan and ran home to get the kids and told them "gear up! I found a random act!" they all got ready and groaned and grumbled all the way to the Post Office (I ain't gonna lie). So we got there and handed them one of our RAoK cards and explained our mission and they looked at us like we are very odd people (which they are RIGHT, again I ain't gonna lie!) but they let us split up their stack of envelopes with them and we set up a mini-assembly line and got it all done pretty quickly with now 7 people working on it. The man told me he is a college graduate doing a research project and sending hundreds of surveys out to pastors in 3 states. So I told him, "Great! That means both of us are getting a project done today!" Then I remembered to get back into line and pay for my own postage and we went home.

It wasn't much, but it was something anyway. Tomorrow we are working on something very special for Valentine's day! We hope to make 165 special people smile tomorrow - so tune in tomorrow!!!!! :o)

(¨`·.·´¨)
`·. Prudy

We got started! And my adrenaline is pumpin!

Wow! That was really fun! My girls & I went out on a mission to find some RAoK to do. We walked the entire mall and scoped things out. The kids can't hardly stand it when we are at the mall and they don't get something, so we stopped at Mom's and got them a treat for some energy so we could get started! As we were leaving, a young family walked up with a little toddler pointing at the yummy desserts and picking out a treat. I turned to the mom as we left(sorry to be assumptive, but I think it's a safe guess) and tried to hand her $2 toward her child's treat. At first she seemed hesitant to accept until I broke the awkwardness by saying "you see my daughters & I are out tonight trying to complete our 365 RAoK for 2010 (our New Years Resolution) and I would like to offer this toward your bill and give you this ticket that you can keep as a reminder or you can use it to pass it forward to another stranger." Then she accepted the cash and had a huge smile on her face and said "Wow, Thank you very much!" The look on her face was what made us realize that's what all this is about.

#2 - we walked around some more to spend some quality time with each other. Later while we were walking, my 7 year old daughter, eating her treat from Mom's, jumped and squeeled, "Mommy - there's someone we can help!! Look! Look!" She tugged at my jacket and pulled me in the other direction. I looked down the hall and there was a woman pushing a stroller with 2 babies while trying to pull along another cart with another baby. My daughter asked me if we could help her because she looked like she could use it. We approached her and before I could even say a word my daughter was saying, "Ma'am! Ma'am! Can we help you with those babies?" She smiled so sweetly and said, "No, thank you though! Their mother is in this store so she'll be right out here." I had to speak to her to explain! I explained the same thing I did to people #1 and she said that was so sweet. I said, "You know what? This still made you feel very happy. So I still want to give you one of our tickets for our cause because this was my 7-year-old daughters idea and I don't want it to go unnoticed. So will you still accept our ticket as a Random Act?" She said, SURE! And she seemed to be very pleased!

#3 - When we first got to the mall there was an adult with 3 small children eating at a table. I told the kids we could offer to take their trays to the garbage for them and that RAoK don't always have to be about spending money. As we approached them we realized they had just started eating so our RAoK would turn into one of those acts we want to avoid...Random Acts of Awkwardness. But at the end of the night as we were leaving the mall they were still there and they had been pretty much done eating. So we approached them, (another adult had joined them), and I told them about our RAoK. They smiled and accepted our offer to clear their tables for them. I added a quick comment a little louder and toward the kids "and it's a great thing to teach the kids, RIGHT?" and winked at the adult.

I think we may have made a great night for a few people tonight. Our adrenaline was pumping when we left the mall and we were so happy!! I am so proud of my kids for doing such a great job!!

Here is what our new tickets say: "You have just been kinded! My goal is to complete 365 Random Acts of Kindness in 2010. Please visit to comment on your experience. Use this ticket to pass it forward to another stranger because "making little ripples of kindness will cause a tidal wave of happy people in our community."

Have a wonderful night everyone! Thank you for coming here to read my blog!!
HUGS,
Prudy

still working on it...

Well, I guess it might be a good thing that I don't have hundreds of followers yet, because I would lose them by now out of them being bored of my infrequency! HA! Sorry - to those who are my loyal first followers, as my start is more of a struggle than I ever thought it would be.

Here is the good news...I have been at least trying. But going out to actually look for RAoK is tougher than I thought it would be. My son and I went to the mall and dedicated some time in looking for some opportunities, but the ideas I had, he said, would be Random Acts of Awkwardness! And that is not my goal! TOO FUNNY!

In talking about this at work, people are asking me how this is going and I've been very honest in saying, especially in winter months, it is difficult. They agreed that summer months should be FAR easier to do a bunch of RAoK at a time, and I can't wait! One suggestion some wonderful girls at work had was to make some kind of item (blankets, scarves, etc) and bring them to a place where people are in need, like a cancer unit, a women's shelter, or some place. That will be fun to do!

Another wonderful thing that has already come of this is that people are talking about it! The simple fact that it is making an impact on some people to do a random act themselves, or coming up with thoughtful ideas is already causing positive energy to spread.

***Making little ripples of kindness in the world is going to cause a tidal wave of happy people.***

Off to a slow start...

So, things aren't off to the roaring start I had envisioned. However, I do have 2 RAoK to report, so that's good! The first one was last week when I was listening to CNN at work on my headphones, President Clinton had a broadcast about texting 20222 to donate $10 to the Haiti disaster. So on my next break, I immediately texted it and donated $10. I didn't consider that a RAoK, but someone convinced me that it was random and it was definitely an act of pure kindness, especially in a time where all of us are so strapped for money!

The 2nd one was when I was out hanging some Avon books on door knobs, a neighbor down the street thought I was delivering the shopping news and she started talking to me about how she misses getting the shopping news. I told her we deliver the shopping news in a different area, but that I would be happy to drop one off for her. She said I didn't have to do that for her and "go out of my way" but I quickly reminded her that I only live down the street and it would not be out of my way. But I also gave her the phone number to the St Cloud Times so she could call and ask them to add her to the delivery list for her carrier for the Hot Ticket/Shopping News. After I picked up our papers last night, we stopped by her house and dropped off a paper and one of my "tickets" that let her know she "has been kinded by Prudy's Random Acts of Kindness 2010".

It seems like such a little insignificant thing, but that's what this is all about. Those little insignificant things that someone might do for us (whether a stranger or not) that makes us smile real big on the inside and out, and makes our whole day feel good. If we all did that a couple of times per day, just think what a difference that would make. One of the many reasons I wanted to do 365 RAoK is because I firmly believe that one cannot reach any true success in their life unless they first lift up those around them and help them reach their successes first. And if we make them feel good that day, that is sure to help them want better for themselves, whether in a big or small way.

Thank you to my 2 followers so far! I love you Jeremy and Casey!! MUAH!!!

~Hugs & LOVE~
Prudy