more acts, more kindness

i hope that you all had a great holiday week so far, i know i have.

while celebrating the holidays, the acts of kindness have continued:

+++ my brother made a swag and put it on the gates of the cemetary where our grandparents and other loved ones are laid to rest. his act was dedicated to the memory of dylan hockley.

+++ kadeena's act was dedicated to benjamin wheeler. ben was 6 and loved soccer and swimming. kadeena made a donation to the boys and girls club of king county in his memory. her donation will make it possible for one child to participate in a sports league for the entire season.

+++ kris's act was dedicated to rachel d'avino. kris sent me the following:
"Rachel D'Avino was a behavioral therapist who shielded students the day of the Sandy Hook shooting. She was close to finishing her doctorate and her boyfriend had asked her family for permission to propose on Christmas Eve. She was a teacher who will be remembered by her student's parents as not having her day end at 3:00. She was known for making after school home visits and supporting parents to learn different techniques for helping their autistic children function daily. In her memory and honor I have chosen to donate money to the Lutheran Church Charities Fund. They are based in Illinois, and will be remembered for sending the K-9 Comfort Dogs to Connecticut to comfort both children and adults in the wake of this unspeakable event. The dogs and volunteers did not end their day at 3:00 either...instead they stayed as long as needed for the grieving town.

In addition, the school where I teach is gathering 600 penguins (our school mascot). Our students and parents are attaching notes to each penguin offering words of comfort, prayer, and condolence for the students and staff at Sandy Hook. I have sent a penguin with a note to a surviving staff member whom I cannot even imagine what they are feeling. These will be sent to them next week in honor of all of the students and staff that were lost and to support the students and staff that survived."

+++ tracy's family's acts are dedicated to james mattioli, grace mcdonnell, emilie parker, jessica rekos, ana marquez-greene, avielle richman, and jesse lewis. tracy sent me the following about their acts of kindness:

 

"Jessica - Will collect food for Evergreen H.S. food pantry. It benefits students at her school; God knows the need for food continues year round.

Hannah - will send thank you letters to local law enforcement (Vancouver Police, Clark Co. Sheriff, SWAT) who responded to her school (Cascade Middle School) and Jessica's high school when a gun was found in a classroom 2 weeks ago and the schools had to go into lockdown and were then evacuated. Not only were the students kept safe, but they were also calm and organized.

 Tony - Will donate a bag of dog food to the Humane Society of SW Washington

 Phyllis (my mom) - Will round up new and/or gently used blankets from family & friends for the homeless shelter. They will need them as the nights grow colder.

 Sheryl (my aunt) - Will donate toys to the Share House that benefits women & children who are transitioning out of abusive/unhealthy situations

 Stephanie (my aunt) - Will read to young children at a local school for children with developmental delays.

 Chris (my brother) - Will write letters to several local stores to compliment the wonderful service received, observed, etc. even in the midst of ornery & downright hostile holiday shoppers. Aside from Santa, retail employees have the toughest jobs this time of year. Especially the folks who work at Clackamas Towne Center who are dealing with so much more than the typical holiday crowd.

 

Me - I will complete all of the above tasks for my family in the honor and memory of a victim of Newtown, and I will gift this to them for Christmas. The adults in my family have elected to no longer exchange gifts (of course we still do for the kids), but this is perfect way to celebrate the spirit of the season. And, each of the tasks selected in some way benefits aspects of each individual's life that is outside of my usual realm of involvement. Better yet, all of these are doable by the end of the year. But I better get going. I plan to have the following people's tasks done by tomorrow: Tony, my mom and Sheryl.

On my way, I will stop for coffee and pay for the person next in line."

 

+++ emily's act of kindness was dedicated to allison wyatt. emily and her son liam honored her by doing the following on christmas eve:

 

"We ended up with a down day on Christmas eve this year. A rare treat that has happened NEVER. Liam and I still had some shopping to do so we headed out and 1 stop in he's STARVING. So we stop at the Bird for some holiday grub. Restaurant is PACKED. Nightmare for Xmas eve. You could see on our servers face that she was exhausted but keeping up the good cheer. My first thought was to buy the family next to us their meal- but we decided instead to give the extra dough to our server. So on an $18 bill we tipped $20 and I wrote her that note I texted you :)

Our next stop had us at a coffee shop buying gift certificates for stocking stuffers. Looked out and saw the line up of Metro buses out there and tired drivers working on Christmas Eve. Decided to buy extra gift cards for the drivers and one by one Liam and I boarded the buses giving out the gift cards to the drivers with a 'hey do you drink coffee'? They were as shocked as they were delighted. Then we handed over $5 bills for upcoming passengers rides.

I hadn't told Liam we were going to do this today and he really got in to it. We started thinking about all the other people we knew that needed to work on the holidays like the fire fighters at the station down the street and our mailman and we decided next year that we would find ways to visit them and spread more cheer.

All the while I was thinking of a little girl- Allison Wyatt who btw reminds me very much of Ms Clara. We'll be making snowflakes to send to their new school (thanks for linking the PTA article). We'll continue to cherish her memory while we continue to spread good cheer in 2013."

 

+++ abby's acts of kindness will be dedicated to madeleine hsu and jack pinto

 

+++ kerry's act of kindness will be dedicated to caroline previdi

 

happy thursday everyone, make it a great one. xo.