The Challenge - Weeks 3 and 4

I can’t believe that the 30 days have passed, and I’ve wrapped up my 30 days, 30 acts of kindness challenge. It really has given me a moment to smile each day, knowing that I’ve done something to help or that has affected someone else in a positive way. I fell behind on my weekly postings, but here are the final weeks of my challenge.

Day 17 – donated $1 to Harvest for Hunger at the grocery store. It happens all of the time – they ask me if I’ll add a dollar or so to my order to help a charity. I normally say no, not because I don’t feel charitable, but because I feel like I don’t have the time, and I’m in a hurry. On this day, I said yes and learned that I should say yes every time.

Day 18 – brought home Gordon’s favorite meal as a surprise. I was home on this day, since our offices were closed for President’s Day, and Gordon had to work. One of his most favorite meals is from a pizza place on the west side. We don’t go there often because we live on the east side. But on this day, I trekked across town and had his favorite meal waiting for him when he got home, which he loved.

Day 19 - clicked the button on thehungersite.com to donate food. These are incredibly easy, painless, and no cost ways to share a little kindness. You click on a link, and people get something they need. I need to remember to do this more often.

Day 20 – voted for the founder of The Sweet Pea Project to receive an award. Many of you have probably never heard of The Sweet Pea Project, but I know I’ll never forget their act of kindness to my family. The night that Vivienne died, we received a memory box from the hospital, which had been donated by the Sweet Pea Project. It contained a book on loss, a certificate that included her weight and length, photos taken by the nurses, and a baby hat and blanket. That hat and blanket are the only things I have that my daughter will ever wear. I will cherish them forever. I’ll give back to this organization every chance I get.

Day 21 – gave a free mammogram on thebreastcancersite.com. Again, easy, painless, and no cost, but could save someone’s life.

Day 22 – gave to a classroom project on donorschoose.org. There are so many projects on there of things really needed by teachers, many of whom work in high poverty schools with very little resources. I gave a little to a local project for a teacher I don’t know, but hopefully it will help them get the classroom computer they need.

Day 23 – donated food to the church food drive. They collect for a food pantry in an incredibly low income area in Cleveland. We donated food and cleaning supplies, which I know will brighten someone’s day.

Day 24 – told someone to keep the change. I bought a couple of mugs at a fundraiser at church and told them to keep the change for their programs. “Keep the change” probably doesn’t work at a lot of places, but it does at church!

Day 25 – made a donation to a charity for a friend. She put out a request to help a charity that was important to her, and I did.

Day 26 – sent a gift to a friend. It was for a special bittersweet moment, and I wanted to do something special.

Day 27 – let a car make a left hand turn. Everyone else was inching forward, trying to get where they needed to go, and blocking this person from making their turn. I stopped and let them go.

Day 28 – wrote a heartfelt note to a friend. I’m trying to do better at this. We all have friends who we think are doing amazing things and really making a contribution to the world, but we never tell them that. On this day, I chose to tell a friend how impressed I was by her efforts and how amazing I think she is.

Day 29 – answered vocabulary questions to donate rice. Only took me a few minutes (they start out easy, but they get much harder!) to answer a series of vocabulary questions, and I donated 2,000 grains of rice to the World Food Programme.

Day 30 – sent flowers to a friend. I decided to end the challenge as I began it. I sent flowers to a friend who has been incredibly supportive of me over the past year and a half – always listening and never telling me what I should be doing. I always tell her how much I appreciate it. And on the final day of the challenge, I wanted to do something to show her how much I appreciate it.

And so that wraps up this 30 day challenge. I’ve been really touched to receive your messages about acts of kindness that you’re doing in your neighborhood. Paying for someone’s groceries, giving gifts and kind notes to neighbors, strangers, and friends, and just generally trying to be a kinder person to the people around you. It’s helped me to find some purpose in the last 30 days, which is an act of kindness that you’ve all done for me. Maybe we’ll do another 30 day challenge again down the road.