Kindness Starts With One®

I am an avid Ohio State Buckeye fan and when I realized they were coming to California for the Rose Bowl, I was so excited! But, due to four surgeries and two hospitalizations in the past 18 months, I knew I would not be able to nagivate the venue. To my big surprise, a new friend whose Dad went to...

"Laundered with Kindness" is an event held annually to help ease burdens by providing wash, dry, fold, load/unload laundry, dry cleaning, and donated laundry products. We target laundromats, dry cleaners, and homeless facilities with the support of cleaning companies, businesses, volunteers, and in-kind donations, helping more families and making a larger impact. Being a single parent, one of the struggles parents...

I'm a pilot car driver, driving across the country to help oversize loads get through crazy traffic. They say the bigger the load, the smaller the road. I had deadheaded out to Bakersfield, California, and met my driver for dinner. I needed to find a place to settle down for the night, as we couldn't load until morning. I went...

My ONE is to greet all with a smile and implement a school counseling program for all, students, staff, family and community. As a first year counselor, at a school who has never had a one, my goal is build moral, teach social emotional coping skills and help the community that my students come from.

Last week, during our first training session held at Poyner (2A), I realized what the eye doctor had been telling me. I did, indeed, find myself in need of cataract surgery! I am scheduled to have this done in the spring. However, we had a lot of notes to take during the week and I found myself unable to read...

I was in the food court on the lower level of Grand Central Station when I noticed two armed police officers trying to wake up an elderly woman who had fallen asleep on a bench. It was apparent that she was homeless. I was upset by the way she was being treated and people were watching the scene unfold. As she...

I began a service-learning project to teach my students about kindness and other community members. My students have severe and profound multiple disabilities. Many times they are not involved in community activities. I wanted a way for them to connect academics with transition skills to their community. We make crafts and greeting cards for residents of a local nursing home,...

One of our grandsons and his best friend played in the band and on the freshman football team this fall. Football players eat in the cafeteria with special education students. Last week, one of the special education students got angry and turned over a wheel chair with a young 9th grader in it. Our grandson and his friend ran to...

I was driving to my morning class when I noticed someone who also looked like a student parked on the side of the road with his caution lights on. I parked behind him and walked up to ask what was wrong with the car. I realized his vehicle had a flat tire, and he told me didn't have a spare tire. As...

It was close to the end of the school year when they passed out yearbooks. My sister and I were letting everyone sign ours. During lunchtime, we watched our school's only janitor working hard and sharing smiles with everyone he met. We decided to let him sign our yearbook, also. After fifth period, a teacher came by to tell me...

I was enjoying a meal with my boyfriend and our friend at a local ramen place. We were talking up a storm as we hadn't seen our friend in a while! We ended up making conversation with the man at the table next to ours. He was nice and very friendly. We talked with him and his date for a...

My daughter, Jess, and I were sitting around getting ready for Christmas. Christmas is difficult on me, after my mom had passed away three years ago. Jess took out some trash and when she came back in she was excited to show me what she had found on our air conditioner. It was a painted rock. The back of the...

Recently while going through a McDonalds drive thru the kind woman in front of me paid my bill. It was truly random and I had no opportunity to thank her in person as she drove away. It was a wonderful feeling. Thank you!

My Grandma and I were walking around her neighborhood and we saw a stand that says can you please donate so we can help our friend who has cancer and so we gave them 20$

For this Christmas, I gave my very best friend a jar with notes for them. They loved it so much they said they almost cried. They are the nicest person I know and I wanted to return the favor.

Tonight my daughter and I went to Kroger and saw a lady who looked very cold. When we came back out of the store, she was still there. As we talked, she explained that she had been standing out in the cold trying to get back home. I gave her a ride to the bus station and paid for her to...

Once, while on my daily jog, I found a cat laying on the side of the road. A little tabby cat, it looked to be in pain. I hurried to the vet with her in as fast a jog as I could manage without hurting her. finally The vet turns looked her over and told me that she had a broken...

Our eldest child, Anne, is now age 31 and a beautiful loving mum of three children. Prior to her boys' births, she had a very sad few years experiencing three miscarraiges. Very soon after the first miscarriage, she began a ministry through her church called "The Basket Ministry". Inside the beautiful baskets she creates are candles, prayer cards, chocolates, a...

Not long ago, we found a dog alone in the street and we took it home with us. We gave him some of our own dog's food. Afterwards, we looked at his tags and called a center that found lost dogs. At around 10:00, the center for lost dogs came to pick him up. The next day we called them...

Marty is a 50-year-old woman who is blind, mostly deaf, and lives with her elderly mother. She has lost a lot of her mobility and is therefore in a wheelchair. Her service dog is now retired; losing this working partner has increased her social anxiety. Monthly, as the weather permits, she finds a ride from Vermont to Connecticut to visit...

I was going through a sort of rough patch; my depression had me at an all-time low. I found it hard most days to even simply smile. On one particularly rough day, I met an older man who completely made my day by telling a corny joke. Ordinarily, I wouldn't have laughed nor even responded with a small smile. But I...

One day I was walking home and saw a homeless guy. I felt so bad, but didn't know what to do to help. I shared the experience with my brother when I got home. Later in the day, when it was dinner time, my brother and I decided to take him some food. We asked our mom if there was...

Hello, my name is Rebecca. At the time of writing this, I am 13 years old. And I'd like to tell you about my best friend, Borislava. She is Bulgarian, but speaks English very well and is even learning Japanese! (Yes, because of animes) When she first came to my school, she wanted to be my friend. That was years...

When I walk in a public park in the city on a good-weather-day, I am stunned by how many lonely people I encounter, walking alone or sitting alone on benches. Last week, during a walk in a park in a foreign city, I got the following idea: We would have color coded benches near the entrance of a park or...

One day I was coming home when it was very dark and cold outside. A woman and her son were laying on the stairs that are connected to my apartment buildings. Especially because it was so very cold outside, I was saddened that the lady and her son had nowhere to go. I went into my house and got them...

Yesterday, RAK Friday 2018, was such a good day for me! Not only did I get to spend time with my friends at one of their homes, I also got to spread some kindness in real life and online! I brought snacks with me for my friends, told them I loved them, and gave a drawing of her dog to...

My daughter, 3-year-old granddaughter, and I were grocery shopping yesterday. A man and several young boys started to walk past my granddaughter and I. The man stopped and asked if he could tell me about his son. Of course I said yes and he proceeded to tell me his son suffered from brain cancer for 7 months and passed away...

A woman at the gate for a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, on November 14 engaged my 9-month-old grandson at the airport. She was as enthralled with him as he was with her. When we got on the plane, she happened to be sitting right behind us and asked to hold him. He went into her arms...

I was out with my friend today and we had both forgotten our credit cards. We needed some money to buy lunch, so she phoned her dad to see what he could do. We were an hour away from any family and had no cash or cards on us. A man came up to a cashpoint and gave us 10 pounds....

Today I woke up thinking it was going to be just another day. It turns out that was only partly true. Because today, as my mother came into my room unannounced as she always does, I was still in my bed. She told me I received something in the mail. At first I was skeptical, thinking that it was going to...