Fun Monday - Random Acts of Kindness
I am hosting Fun Monday, again
Fun Monday was started by Robin at Pensieve. It is one of the most fun bloggy-meme's out there, in my opinion. I have come up with a fabulous idea for December 15th's, Fun Monday.
The Background:
As you may have noticed from my sidebar, I am a "Tweeter." As a Tweeter, I often participate in a Twitter event called "Girl's Night Out." It is co-hosted by Jyl over at MommyGossip and Carissa Rogers at Good and Crazy People. It is on Tuesday nights and it is sooo much fun. It gets crazy often but I always learn a lot. This past Tuesday, the topic was Random Acts of Kindness. Hundreds of women and some men talked about ways to give to others; ways to do a random act for someone. There were so many fabulous ideas! And that is when the idea for Fun Monday was born.
Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) week is in February 2009. I know I'm a bit early, but I thought we could practice now.
The Assignment: (Please read the background first, so you understand my choice of assignment).
1) Your job this week is to go out and perform a random act of kindness. Now, before you freak out, please read on. This is actually really easy!! This act may be for someone you know or for a perfect stranger. It can be big or small, it'll all up to you. Obviously, it should be something within your means. For instance, don't go out and buy your next door neighbor a car and then complain to me that you can't make your mortgage payment, ok?
Here are a few examples of things you could do:
* Some of these ideas are re-posted from previous posts
- Give someone a ride on a cold, windy, or rainy day. Or just give someone a ride who looks like they need it (Of course, don't be surprised if they say no; in my experience, people are not used to kindness).
- Pay for the groceries for the person in front of you at the express check out lane.
- Donate your time to a soup kitchen, a club, a church; anywhere that provides services to the needy.
- Pay the toll for the person behind you.
- Be extra nice to that person you "really don't like" at work.
- Smile at everyone you meet for a day, no matter what.
- Participate in a food/clothing drive.
- Adopt a family over the holidays.
- Participate in Toys for Tots or a similar event in your area.
- For the holidays, visit someone at a nursing home or hospital who otherwise would not have visitors and make them feel special and loved.
- Buy that homeless guy you pass every morning on your way to and from work meals for a day.
- Put money into those Salvation Army buckets every time you see one until the end of the year, even if it's only a dollar each time (The Salvation Army provides gifts for needy children over the holidays).
- Donate (instead of tossing) old clothes, toys, furniture, cars, etc... to places that will provide those items to those in need for free or at minimal cost.
- If you can't find any such drives, start your own. Even if it's only within your department (at work) or your family. If you contact your local county government agency, they can direct you where to take donations.
See? There is so much you can do without cutting too much into your daily routine.
2) Then, blog about what you did and why. How did it impact the person(s) you did it for? And better yet, how did it impact you!? How did you feel after you did it? Would you do it again?That's it!
Or (I had an idea)
3) If you've had a random act of kindness bestowed on you (recently), we'd love to hear about it. How did it impact you? How did it make you feel?
Whatever Holiday you celebrate or even if you don't, the purpose of this is to get us into the spirit of giving.
There are people who need help all around us. We just have to open up our eyes and see them. If we start small, by giving just a little, we will be setting ourselves up to notice when true help is needed, and we might just be able to help! Wouldn't that be amazing?!
I hope you will play along. If you don't have a blog, you can still play. Just comment about your RAK in the comments. Put your name on Mr. Linky and your comment number so we can go read what you wrote.
Please link up to Mr. Linky if you plan to participate. I will delete your link if you do not have a relevant post. As always, please read other's posts and comment on their experiences. Thanks for participating and Happy Holidays!
GREAT LIST!! I have been so amazed at all the great ideas out there. Reminds me how good and decent people can be. sometimes my RAK is just standing in a long line with out blowing up at stupid people. That's sad isn't it. I can do nice things too...
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If you really can't think of anything... think about your strengths, things you're good at doing and start there. Knit a scarf for someone, draw a picture to cheer someone up. Make phone calls to friend and family and tell them you love them. It's the little things that ALWAYS make the difference.
The thing I love about a random act of kindness is when I can do something for someone and I don't tell anyone else... I keep it to myself. It's between me and that person. It's the most gratifying secret in the world!
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Oops... delete the one that says "Say". My finger hit enter before I was ready for it to (it does that sometimes...). This is a great FM - I can't wait to see just how random and kind we can be!
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great topic
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Great idea, should be easy to do.
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Should be no problem at all!
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I feel wings growing on my back and a gloriol over my head when I have accomplished my act of kindness ! There is only one problem, I don't like to talk about it. But I will find something.
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We live paycheck to paycheck so I don't always have money to donate, but what I like to do is give my kid's old coats that they grow out of to the church for children who can't afford them. They always still look brand new and then I know they are getting to a child who can use them.
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Count me in!
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I am in. I signed up with Mr. Linky! See you Monday!
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Thanks for reminding me...lol. I am looking forward to picking up some great new ideas on Monday. Great topic for this time of year!
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I'm in. Thanks, Mom, for the reminder on my blog.
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I am totally in....I love your idea!!
BTW..it is smiling poop on my site!!
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I already signed up, I am number 4, I saw you left a comment for me on my blog to sign up
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This sounds great! Sign me up (and thanks for inviting me!)
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Hi there, thanks for the invite. I signed up and will try hard to join in. We are having a really big early family xmas dinner this afternoon so not sure about the time factor etc.
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I have two acts of kindness to write about. One that I gave and one received.
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I can certainly do this one - I'm in NH - 340,000+ without electricity right now..... Lot's of need for RAKs
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I've been working on an endeavor for a week. Glad you're giving me an opportunity to share.
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I'm signing up and hoping my travel schedule will allow me to fulfill this wonderful challenge. If I don't have the time before packing, driving to the airport and flying home, I will absolutely do a Random Act of Kindness even though it may not end up on a post.
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Oh dear... I'm traveling and don't have time to play this week.
BUT, I did want to stop and say that Fun Monday was actually started by
Vicky (Catching the light) and Willowtree (A Dingo got my Barbie) But back then he called is Once Upon A Blog
I hope I get a chance to see everyone's posts on what they did.
Hey -- does watching my three grandkids so my daughter could go on a day trip with her husband count? (:
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Sorry I didn't officially join in this week. I will be make sure I do a RAK between now and Christmas.
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Pamela is correct, Robin did not start Fun Monday, she merely chronicled it's history which (if you'd have read it) states that it was started by Vicki and myself.
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