Trick or Treat

A few kids just came to my door for Halloween carrying Unicef boxes on Halloween...what a nice way to bring some kindness/community service into trick or treating.

Power Me Up - Someone Steps Up To Help Me

Went to Breuggers for a bagel and wanted to use my laptop. Unfortunately I didn't have any battery power left so I was looking for an outlet to use my cord. There was only one and a young man (college age) was using it. When he saw me searching for an outlet he immediately got up and said you can sit here if you need to charge your battery. I said "that's okay you were there, that's fine." He insisted and quickly moved before I had a chance to say that was okay.

Positive People Day - What A Great Idea

I was walking through South Station just 2 days after our "Kindness Bag" Giveaway and there was a group of women behind the kiosk where we set up shop with signs saying, "Positive People Day." In short, it is an organization started by this woman, Nancy Purbeck. She has wonderful business cards that say "make a positive impact in your community through simple communications of sharing.....victory over violence." I stopped to find out what they were up to as well as let them know just 2 days earlier we were giving out kindness bags. At that moment she had a big smile on her face and said that she had heard about what we did through Daniel Dombak, the Marketing Director for South Station, and thought it was a wonderful thing what we were doing. In part because of what we did on Tuesday, Daniel thought this could be "kindness" week at South Station given our "work" on tuesday and now this great "work" by Nancy with respect to "Positive People Day." One goal of this class is to highlight that there are many many wonderfully caring individuals and organizations doing amazing things for others. We have already had the opportunity to meet or learn about many such as Talia Leman at RandomKid. There are hundreds, thousands, millions more....when you meet these people take the opportunity to find out what they are doing and thank them. I look forward to reconnecting with Nancy and learning about ways that we can help each other fulfill both our missions.

What A Great Sign!

Part of the marketing around the kiosk at South Station for "Positive People Day"

South Station Kindness Bag Giveaway - What An Incredible Experience

What Did We Do Today? Gave out 350 Free Kindness Bags (in 30 minutes) to Strangers at South Station...............SEE BELOW FOR PICTURES AND VIDEOS FROM SOUTH STATION

Why? To put a smile on someone's face....do something kind for a stranger....and in return we only asked that they do something nice for someone else and hopefully tell us about it. To learn the powerful lesson that "to give is to receive." Because in return for their hard work in packing 350 bags and giving them out, the kids were able to see first hand and up close the incredibly positive and heart warming reaction from someone who has been given a gift purely from the heart with no strings attached. And the students in seeing this reaction will hopefully continue to do and look for more opportunities to make other people feel good; and that is a big part of what it means to be a responsible young citizen and leader....by putting some of their fears aside and making others feel good, the kids are beginning to realize their potential to impact others around them in a positive way...their potential to be leaders.

The Response? Overall, it was amazing. So many incredible and fun stories that the kids shared as we celebrated our day with a pizza party afterwards. With smiles on their faces, most of the kids told similar stories. Where at first the people they approached were a bit unsure and even uneasy. But almost universally, when they heard the kids say "these bags are free....this is a class about kindness....we only want you to take them and do something kind for someone else," the people then warmed up, let their "guard" down and most importantly were genuinely thankful and touched. So many travelers gave the kids a huge thank you....a smile....and even an occasional hug......a handful of "takers" were so impressed and appreciative they wanted to "repay" our kindness.....of course this wasn't our intention at all but sometimes wonderful things happen out of good deeds......some of the employees at McDonalds wanted to give the kids some fries.....another traveler gave the kids 2 tickets to a premier showing of the Michael Jackson movie....and although we did not want to take it and denied the gift several times, one incredible man from Washington (passing by with his family), was so moved by our acts of kindness that he "insisted on giving us a $100 bill for the Rogers School"!

We of course put it in our giving jar which is money we are setting aside for each good deed we do that we will use to make a special gift to our classmates and school at the end of our class.As someone with an enormous amount of appreciation and respect for our country's military forces, one of my favorite stories was meeting, William Tabb, who served in the US Air Force some 40+ years ago and who stopped by to tell the kids his 2 children attended the Rogers Middle School! You could see the joy in his eyes from seeing the kids and spending time with us. We will try to reconnect with him at some point.

Students Giving Kindness At South Station

Wilnie and Arvonne set up the kiosk with our bags and signs to let people know "We're here to spread kindness!"

Francis (above) and Aliyah (right) hand out bags to travelers and tell them about the Rogers Middle School project for Kindness!

350 BAGS IN ALMOST 25 MINUTES!!! WHOOOA BABY!

Deborah, Adrian and Nicolas Spread The Word About Kindness

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Luis and Mirkovens On Their Way To Hand Out More Kindness Bags

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

We Did It - 350 Bags All Gone

Click on a video below to watch it:

	Video 22 Video Length 0:35 Click here to watch

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Kids Return To Home Base For More Bags

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	Video 14 Video Length 0:18 Click here to watch

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South Station Giveaway - Just Getting Started Part II

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	Video 13 Video Length 0:35 Click here to watch

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South Station Giveaway - Just Getting Started Part I

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	Video 12 Video Length 0:40 Click here to watch

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ACTS OF KINDNESS YOU HAVE DONE OR SEEN - POST HERE

getting off the train this morning...a very small woman was trying to lift an carry her very heavy luggage...I began to move towards her to help her out (had at least a few hundred feet to walk)...and before I could get there a young man came up beside her and told her he would carry it for her down the platform (I am convinced and have been for a long time there is a lot more good in the world than bad...many more people like you and I that want to good and help others...but too often we hear about in the news, talk about and focus on the negatives).

A Long Lift Home

A friend of mine at work, Kathleen (one of the kindest people I know), forward this story to me today...

"Here’s one to pass on.

While at the Watertown Registry of Motor Vehicles this past Friday, I heard an elderly woman named Janice, asked the clerk whom she should call to get a taxi to Brookline. Her daughter had to leave the Registry to pick her son up from day care. Janice’s business was not finished so she had to stay.
In the meantime Janice looked distraught as she had just moved to Brookline from Amherst. I volunteered to drive her home, however, was not certain how to get to Brookline from Watertown.

What an adventure. Janice had no idea, I had no real sense of how to get there, however, since I had committed to taking this dear lady home, I had to ask for help from the Watertown police, who had pulled someone over for a traffic violation. The officer was not really certain how to direct us since he did not know where Coolidge Corner Trader Joes’ was located. Janice’s daughter would be able to pick her up there. ( Janice is 80 years old ).

Janice and I had a great time laughing about our dilemma. Through prayer and asking a lady for directions, we wound up at Trader Joe’s after 40 minutes, which was better timing then Janice had anticipated. Have made a new friend, Janice and I will stay in touch.
Practice patience.
The lesson for the children…be aware of other’s needs. Be committed to help if possible. Ask others to join in to help out. Practice patience. It’s important to try to comfort another person while they are in a stressful situation. Be willing to spend time or money if need be. Look for opportunities to be helpful, however, be prepared, some people do not accept offers of help. Could be they are fearful of being vulnerable."

Bishop Fulton Sheen used to say “ if everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world this would be.”

10/20 Class - Preparing for South Station Kindness Bag Giveaway

Way to go kids. You did an amazing job preparing for next week. In 80 minutes the production team (Wilnie, Tyuen, Francis, Mirkovens, Deborah, Arvonne, Nicolas, Patrick and Lee Ann from Fidelity Cares.....thanks so much Lee Ann) packed 350 "kindness bags" and our marketing team (Jeremy, Jordan, Luis, and Adrian) also made 4 large signs for next week. You took the job seriously and worked all the way to the end. And that was a good thing because we packed the last bag just in time for the bus. Each bag is full of treats including 2 hershey kisses, halloween pretzels, a small bag of cookies, a custom fortune cookie with a special kindness message, 1 quarter for a parking meter, a brief description of who we are and why we are doing this, and our business cards. We can't wait till next Tuesday, 10/27, when we are able to give Bostonians a treat and give them away, and hopefully in return will see and hear about their acts of kindnesses on our blogsite.

Also want to point out a question that came up in the beginning. Aliyah asked if she could do something special, be a hero like RandomKid and Talia..............and the answer to all of the kids in the class and all over........is ABSOLUTELY YES...As Talia Leman says, we all have "the power...the power of anyone" to do something truly special.

Other things that came up during the class of note. Aliyah also asked if we could do something for Breast Cancer.....great idea and we will think about how to incorporate that. Deborah asked if she can talk to people next week at South Station when we hand the bags out...of course...that is part of the fun.

Again, a special thanks to Lee Ann for printing out 350 business cards and 1 page descriptions of the contents of the bag and who we are...we couldn't have done it without you.

Preparing 350 Kindness Bags to Give Away on 10/27 in South Station

See us making 350 "kindness bags" to give away on 10/27 at South Station. The bags are full of treats including hershey kisses, pretzels, cookies, a custom "kindness" fortune cookie and a quarter for a parking meter. We will give them away and hope in return recipients of the bags will do something good for someone else and tell us about it.

Click on a video below to watch it:

	Video 13 Video Length 1:20 Click here to watch

To learn more about the Flip Video Camcorder, click here.