It’s time! Time to share the lovely things that you’ve been doing this month to help others. Each December we run a few Random Acts of Kindness blog contests, to encourage you to keep your eyes open for ways that you can help others. I know that many of you are aware of this all year long (just because you’re nice like that.) For others, this is always a good reminder that it doesn’t have to cost a lot of extra time or money to help make someone’s day, and to be an encouragement to them. On Friday’s blog, I gave you links to the contest from last year, in case you wanted to read some of the comments for ideas.
What am I doing? This year, our church has been talking about encouraging people to give more, spend less, worship more, and love all. I like that idea. How do you give more, but spend less? Give your time. Give things that you no longer use. Give encouragement and support. Have you knit some of your gifts this year? Then you’ve given time to each of the people who will be getting those gifts. I’ve made several gifts this year, and hope to do that each year. I’m also going to go through the overabundance of scarves that College Girl and I have knit up, and we’ll be washing those up and taking them to a local homeless shelter. While we’re at it, we’ll go through our winter coat closet and see what else we can add to the pile. While I love cold weather, I don’t like to BE cold. I like to be all bundled up. There are plenty of people in all of our communities who don’t have the luxury of being bundled up, so hopefully a few warm items will help.
What random acts have you done to spread holiday cheer and encouragement? Leave it in the comments and we’ll do a random drawing for prizes that we’ll announce next week. (Do you do these things for the publicity and the drawings? No, of course not. But your comments help to give ideas to others, and the drawings make it a little more fun.) 🙂 We’ll do a second Random Acts contest next Monday, and the last contest the Monday after that, so keep looking for ways to commit some acts be a blessing to others. Speaking of contests – have you joined our Facebook and Twitter pages? I put up one of our 24 Hour Quick Contests this morning, so it runs through tomorrow morning. Pop over and enter. The prize is a Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate!
Sheri justaddinginafewre-stocksandupdateslatertoday.
NotafullblownSneakUp.However…moreontheway…
Friday I let another train rider know he was leaving his container behind. Today I stayed awake to listen to my seatmate, who really wanted to talk. I’m also volunteering to help with the office party.
In the knitting vein, I’m taking two hats and a scarf to the local soup kitchen where I work so they can be given away to someone who needs a little extra help staying warm this winter. Brrr!!! it’s been cold for weeks in Colorado, and I’ve enjoyed my own hat, so giving away a few may help someone a great deal, I think.
Thanks for holding this contest every year, Sheri. It brings the idea to the forefront of our minds and helps keep us be aware as opportunities present themselves!
A friend was twittering looking for sock knitting books and mentioned that she couldn’t find one that she wanted at her local library. I had a copy of the book she was looking for and not being much of a sock knitter, sent it off to her for nothing.
Yay!!!
When I walk my dog, I go past the homes of a few of my mother’s friends. Most of them, like my mother, are elderly and not as stable on their feet as they once were. When the weather is bad (rainy, cold, slippery), I will walk their newspapers up to the door in the mornings and make sure they’re inside the screen so that they don’t have to go out in the yuck. If I’m walking in the evenings and I see their garbage cans still at the street, I’ll take them back into the yard. And for some of them, Salty Dog gets in the act and insists that we go up and ring the doorbell to say hello and have a little visit (which we do if it’s not too early in the morning or late in the evening).
I picked a list from our Angel Tree, and am taking things by our animal shelter as well.
This time of the year has mixed blessings for me. I am cleaning out my mothers home since she passed away. Mom had a lovely home and lovely clothes and furnishings. I am taking the time to launder items, wash glass ware and donating them to charity. Also, I have stopped my Christmas gift knitting to knit items for the military personnel overseas. So far I am knitting scarves, helmet liners and gators. the patterns are free and from what I understand it is cold in Afghanistan.
Lastly, I have crochet several afghans to donate to local agencies for use in homeless shelters and families in need.
My random act is actually to nominate my friend Judith to win this contest! She is the charity coordinator for our guild, and works countless hours each year to help us create for others. This past year she has knit MANY preemie caps and has coordinated with the local shelter http://www.southoaklandshelter.org to make up kits for us to create hats for children. She contacts designers to donate cute patterns, gathers donated supplies and packages up cute kits so that we all feel like we’re getting a gift of yarn to knit up. Once the knitters have their way with the kits Judith creates, she collects the finished objects, washes them, tags them and donates them to the shelter. Rarely do I see Judith knitting something for herself, most of the time she’s doing for someone else. Please consider my entry an entry on her behalf–she’s the greatest, and helps us feel pretty great too when she encourages us to do for others!
During the year, I’ll see a pattern or yarn that I want to try out but the finished product may not be anything I can use or gift to anyone I know (there’s a limit to how many scarves/socks/hats/mittens my immediate famly needs or wants). I could and have donated to The Red Scarf Project, Afghans for Afghans and all kinds of other great organizations but his year it felt important to me to be paying more attention to what’s happening in my own community. I work in downtown SF and it’s kind of like we have “our own” street people – folks we see all year round on their own specific turf. There are two in particular that I worry about – they don’t seem particularly healthy and it’s been COLD here in the last few weeks. I tossed a pair of mittens and a pair of gloves in my bag and kept my eyes open for these two people and last week gave them some wooly warmth.
I made triple chocolate fudge last night to surprise my neighbor. He had some last year at my house and loved it. His wife doesn’t make it for him. I called and asked if it was OK and she said sure. She isn’t telling him so I can suprise him tonight. Both are retirees and I think the stirring that is needed is just too tough for her hands/arms.
All year I save my change and in December take it to buy toys for tots. It’s a fun tradition.
My team at work got together and bought coats for a Head Start class. Also my
whole center is having a contest to collect bears for a program with the local police.
Bagged up and getting ready to donate 3 bags full of winter clothes.
One touching thing I saw at work this week was a homeless man who donated his extra coat to someone who needed it.
It’s a little thing but maybe it’s a big thing, as they say – found someone’s car keys left on a counter in the grocery store this morning and turned them in to an employee who made an announcement on the pa system. I could just imagine that feeling of panic when reaching into a pocket or purse and not finding your keys where you expected them to be…hopefully keys and owner were reunited quickly!
A friend of mine and I joined our local knit shop and knitted hats, scarves and mittens for kids and adults for some Iraqi refugees in our area. They were brought to the United States to protect them, and they don’t know what our winters are like. I am behind on my Christmas knitting now, but it felt good to do for others that I don’t know.
I think it was enough that no one was injured by my hand in my 12:00 meeting. It was not pretty, Sheri. Not pretty at all.
After reading your blog today I thought that what I plan to do for my family might be okay. I have not been home to St. Louis for the holidays for two years so I felt like I wanted to bring some gifts, but knowing my family a bought gift would be accepted but not really appreciated, so I am making things this year. Some scarves, lace and otherwise, some felted oven mitts, and even some fetching using the pattern mentioned in your blog a couple of times. I guess those are my Acts of Kindness though not random.
I was picking up takeout at a local restaurant last week, and saw a man who looked homeless sitting on a bench outside. I heard some staff inside say he had come in and asked for food, and it sounded like they hadn’t decided if they were going to give him any, so I offered to pay for a meal for him.
A friend of my moms , who is a single mother, is the hardest working person I know. On top of owning alpacas and seling their fleece, she also worked full time at the local hospital. She was laid off a few months ago and has not been able to find a job. My mom gave me a bunch of her alpcas fleece for my birthday a few months ago, and I am taking that and spinning it up, and making knit toys for her babies. It’s not much, but I think she will really ike it.
This is a small act of kindness-When I was out shopping at a local store a woman and her mother were looking for something to buy for a friend. They didn’t know if what they were looking for was on sale so I went up to the front of the store and got a flyer for them to check and see if it was on sale. Sure enough it was and they were so happy that I had given them the flyer so that they could bring it up to the cashier and show her that it was on sale. They saved some money!
I knit for the red scarf project. It’s nice to take time out of the business of the season to think of others.
Three things I can’t quite separate because they are intertwined: I’m working to spend any extra $ I can by local* & friendly shops instead of the chains (if it doesn’t go to donation boxes first). Making a point no matter how stretched and cranky I feel to smile and be kind to store clerks and bus drivers… Filling a box full of yarn goodness for a good friend who is a new knitter and looking forward to her excitement when she receives it (I have to mail it first).
* local includes internet.
My husband and I decided to make monthly donations to the ASPCA. We signed up to start at Christmas.
I am in the process of going through my yarn stash and weeding out any skein that is not designated for any specific project. It won’t all be done by Christmas but I hope to send at least a box a month to The Purl Foundation in NYC. I found their name in your blog-the woman I emailed said they would be thrilled to receive any little bit. I have way too much-most are complete skeins including MANY Rowan skeins. It will feel good to organize my stash but even better to know it will help others stay warm during cold winter months 🙂
There is an elderly lady who sits behind me in church. She is (wistfully) a former knitter who finds it too difficult to knit at this age. Last week I gave her my Feather and Fan Scarf,
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/meezermeowmy/feather-and-fan-scarf
because I knew she would love it.
She tapped me on the shoulder Sunday to say how much she has enjoyed it this cold week. What a smile!
I stayed behind after the staff Christmas party on Friday to help the event team clean up. It only took 15 minutes to sort everything out, but you could tell from the smiles that it made a difference!
Sheri, I’ve been looking forward to these RAK posts all year. Thank you for doing them again.
So many people on Ravelry have been so kind to me in one way or another. I was able to return the favor. I gave one friend 30 yards of Wollmeise to fnish a project and traded with another friend a color that I only have one of but she wanted it more. And when I was at the grocery store this morning, the lady in front of me didn’t have enough money for her purchase so I covered what was left. It made me feel so good!
I am knitting my brother in law and mother in law socks this year for Christmas. And for my two sweet daughters I have knitted hats, and a few other mommy made gifts just for them:)
I like to hold doors open for people. It’s such a small courtesy that so few of us do.
My SIL has someone in her Mom’s group who is on hard times, so I slipped her a Christmas card with some $$$ in it at a gathering at my SIL’s house. I put in the card that I hoped it helped and Merry Christmas. She has been asking and asking my SIL who had done it but my SIL won’t tell her. 🙂
This year I made a bunch of neck warmers and gave them to the people I deal with all year but don’t usually do anything for at Christmas like the postmaster and the two lovely ladies at my local library. I have others to bestow!!
I’m knitting sweaters for homeless or needy children.
I work for a healthcare system and each year our department has done something for a family in the community. Due to divorce or death, there were several families in our own company that weren’t going to have a very Merry Christmas. Our department “adopted” 2 of these families and each of us split up to buy things for the family. Not only is my family getting shoes, jeans and toys – but warm hats and mittens, too! 🙂
This week I made a donation to the food bank through our grocery store and donated some new toys to the local toy fund. I hope it gives a child some joy on Christmas day.
Every couple of months i purchase an extra bag of dog food & cat food to take to our local animal shelter. This year I’ve taken all of my left over sock yarn & made socks for the childrens hospital. And I’ve been teaching my elderly neighbor how to knit socks from the toe up using the magic loop method.
I can never pass up a Salvation Army bell ringer without putting something in the bucket–and I always thank them for taking time to ring the bell. It always seems to put a smile on their face, especially when it’s particularly cold and snowy out.
It sure is inspiring to read all the wonderful ways people care about other people. Very touching. It really makes you want to do more to reach out to others. Thanks for this great reminder, Sheri!
I decided to become the coordinator of the Secret Santa exchange at work, since no one was “feeling it” and it wouldn’t have been done at all. I even invited the guys, who traditionally aren’t allowed to participate. They were so happy to be invited! It made me happy.
I took my three year old to the store with me to pick out toys for the donation box at her school. While I do this every year, I think she understands this year what she helped to do. When we checked out, I had the toys put in a separate bag so my daughter would understand that those were “hers” for school. She was very happy to take those toys to school this morning and put them in the donation bin.
I agreed to participate in a cookie exchange. It doesn’t sound like an act of kindness, but I don’t usually bake Christmas cookies because I bake our family” special Christmas bread (and ship it to my husband’s family) now that my MIL is no longer with us. A woman I know from Boy Scouts (my husband is Scoutmaster) asked me to participate and said she wasn’t sure she’d have the courage to invite her cooking class if I didn’t come. She is new to Baltimore and has not been able to meet very many people, so I said yes and spent my Saturday evening baking lots of Crandoodles. That’s where the act of kindness came back to me. I made Snickerdoodles and my husband had the suggestion of adding Craisins (dried cranberries) to the dough. My family now has a new favorite cookie recipe! My husband’s act of kindness for her was to offer to make eggs benedict (he makes the absolute best) for her brunch/exchange. Her party was quite a hit!
For the third year in a row, I have sold knitted scarves, hats, socks and children’s items at a school fair and donated the proceeds to charity. Recipients have been Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, Heifer International, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Fund, Habitat for Humanity and more. It is a way of doing what I love, knitting, to benefit others.
I held a canned food drive at work with my college students. I gave them some “extra credit” points (college students love that) and we donated all of the food collected to a local food bank.
I found a set of keys on the sidewalk outside of the school – no one was in the vicinity that appeared to have lost them, but I noticed that there was a Post Office box key on the ring, so I took them down to our Post Office. The Post Mistress seemed to know exactly who they belonged to, so I am assuming they were reunited with their rightful owner!
Heh…I’m an idjit. I posted mine last week in the wrong blog post. 😛 So, copied & pasted…
The other day, a young teenage boy came knocking at my door, and asked if I had any garbage he could take out for a dollar. For once, I actually didn’t, because I’d made my own sons take the garbage out earlier that day, so I apologized to the kid & said no. After I’d closed the door, though, I thought about it…we were in the middle of a major winter storm, and it’s a long bloody way to the dumpsters round here! Plus, good on him for being willing to work for his money. So, I fished up my very last dollar (seriously, we are SO BROKE right now!!), and poked my head out the door & called him back. I told him I still didn’t have any work for him, but I wanted him to have my last dollar anyway, because kids like that are rare (especially around here!). I’d have given him more if I’d had any more to give.
That kid really impressed me…
I enjoyed paying for the beverage and snack of the person behind me in line – I simply slipped the cashier an extra five, said “Use this to pay for his snack, and slip the rest in the tip jar, pls.”
Two smiles, what a great score ;–)
I sent maternity clothes that I am not using to a neighbor of my parents as they are expecting their first child and they are both teachers so don’t really have the money to go out and get a whole new wardrobe for 6 months.
Don’t know if this will count or not…every year, including this year, I knit items such as socks, hats, mittens, scarves, and sometimes kids sweaters, to put on my church’s mitten tree. These items get distributed to children/families who are less fortunate.
Also, there is a turkey drive headed up by a local woman and this year my mom and I donated a turkey. The turkeys are given to local food banks to give to families who might not otherwise be able to get a turkey to have for supper at Christmas. Each year they have a goal, and the surplus (after they reached the goal) was given to soup kitchens to use to make turkey soups, dinners, sandwiches, etc. for those people who will be visiting the soup kitchens around Christmas (and after).
I work graveyards with a women who walks to work everyday and here in Colorado that is a very cold walk. I knit her a hat, scarf and mittens in colors to match her coat. I surprised her with them Friday nite and she has been wearing them since. The scarf she wears at work to keep breezes off her neck. It is always so nice to do something that is so unexpected and so appreciated.
I really believe that true acts of charity are best left anonomous(sp) and I do try to do that. but just this once I will share this and hopefully someone else will read it and act in kind. Last week I met someone of the internet who really touched my heart. Her family is struggling with very serious health issues that will be life long and the astronomical financial burdon that goes with it. I knew this person desparately desired a skein of Bugga (the all elusive Bugga) I knew the feeling well because for a very long time it eluded me too. I had a couple of skeins (one so-so and the other gorgeous Reakirt. Not wanting to offend or diminish ones pride, I asked if I might send the children something small to brighten their day. When I received the address I did indeed send something to the children and was planning on sending the so so skein of bugga but a little voice in the back of my head or my heart said send the one that is so special to you and I did. Reakirt and childrens things went off in the mail and I do hope for however short a time they will have a break from their hardship. We are all Gods children (brothers and sisters) I only wish we could continue these acts of kindness throughout the year and not just at Christmas. I think this will be my New Years resolution Try to help others where I see the need. No one can do it all, but if everyone does just a little it will make a huge difference.
One other thing, I almost forgot to mention. This year I’m not sending Christmas Cards. I am taking the money that it would cost to buy cards and mail them and donate it to the VFW for packages for the soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afganistan, May god keep them safe and bring them home soon.
In last week’s snow storm my husband and I noticed a girl in our apartment complex who was trying to move her car after the plows blocked her in. She was trying to dig out with only her hands, poor thing. We always keep collapsible shovels in our trunk, and since we had already shoveled out our spots I suggested we help her out. It only took 15 or 20 minutes more of shoveling and a good push from behind to help her get her car moving, and she was so thankful. Hopefully she’ll pass it on next time she sees someone stuck…
I try to do this all year, but I’ll be honest and say the holiday season brings it out in me more. I just try to do little things that help people or brighten their day. I let people in while driving (a big thing here in Los Angeles where no one gives anyone the right of way!). I was walking into a store the other day and saw a woman trying to pull into a parking spot, but it was blocked by a cart. Instead of walking by because it was pouring rain, I walked over and moved the cart. I tell people I don’t know that they look beautiful today!
These all seem insignificant compared to the other grand gestures people make, but sometimes the little things can make a big difference, too!
After an experience I had last Christmas, I decided my random acts of kindness would be a lot less random and a lot more deliberate. I volunteer a lot at my son’s elementary school. Not long after Christmas break last year, I was talking with an adorable first grader at recess. I asked her what Santa brought her for Christmas and she joyfully explained that our school nurse “brought Christmas to her apartment.”
I was floored. I had no idea that this kind, sweet woman who’s married with her own family and takes such great care of our school’s children, literally gave the magic of Christmas to families who otherwise would have had nothing for their children. Not only did our nurse supply wrapped presents “from Santa,” but also Christmas trees and decorations too. I later came to learn that she did it for at least 5 families in our school!
I spoke privately to her about it and asked her how we could help. She confided that there were many families in our school who regularly go without, not just at Christmas, but at Thanksgiving and on the kids’ birthdays too. I decided then and there that she needn’t be the only person looking out for our school’s families throughout the year. It’s too easy to take a good life for granted. When you’re blessed to be among the haves, it’s an even greater blessing to be able to share with the have nots.
At the start of each school year I buy assorted blank note cards and stationary. Throughout the year I send cards randomly to my students with words of encouragement and support. The kids really get a kick out of them, and it let’s them know that their hard work does not go unnoticed.