We have been reserving Thursdays for giving back to the community. We offer suggestions of ways that people can do good things for others and help our community. For this week’s Give Back Thursday, we suggest Random Acts of Kindness!
Kindness is something we are taught as children. Actively showing kindness to others should be a lifelong goal. Hopefully we take the time to practice this simple idea and shape it into part of our identity. Sometimes we feel bogged down with responsibilities and feel restricted with time, energy and finances. Sometimes this can alter how much kindness we feel we can spread. Spreading kindness can be simple and does not have to consume much time or energy. Did you know spreading kindness may energize you?
For this week’s Give Back Thursday we suggest Random Acts of Kindness. This is doing something kind for someone that you may not know or randomly select. An easy random act of kindness is to pay for the order of the next person in line at the drive-through. What a great feeling to give someone. To find that a stranger would extend this type of kindness can be a surprise. Your act of kindness might inspire them to pay it forward and do the same thing for the next person in line. Can you imagine if this simple idea continued for every person in line? That would be something to see!
Perhaps you could go to a business, like Shannon’s Kandy Kitchen, and purchase a small box of candy. Explain that you would like to leave this purchase with them at the counter to be gifted to the next person that checks out. Or, they could give it to someone they feel might need a little pick-me-up that day. They can just tell the person they give it to that it was a gift to spread joy and kindness. Can you imagine being the person that received this? It doesn’t have to be expensive, any gift like this would be a surprise and be priceless for a recipient.
At Beans on Broad, they have a chalkboard where you can pay and gift something to someone. It could be a specific amount or item for a specific person, or you could say a specific amount or item for someone random. An example of this would be “1 large regular coffee for a teacher” or “$5 for Joe Smith”. Add someone to this board. It is sure to make their day!
Opportunities for random acts of kindness can be found anywhere. You could go to a restaurant and pay for someone else’s meal. Perhaps you see someone in a military or first responder uniform and want to thank them for their service. Maybe you see a family with young children trying to enjoy a night out. Simply tell your waiter or waitress that you’d like to pay for that person or that table’s meal. If they have already ordered, it is simple to transfer their check to you. Can you imagine the feeling of knowing that someone you don’t even know just paid for your meal?
You could buy a gift card to mail to someone, like a neighbor or friend. You could simply say you wanted to do something nice for them today. What a wonderful surprise for the person opening that card.
Or, maybe you want to do a different type of act of kindness. This could include something like cutting a neighbor’s grass who might have a tough time doing their yard work. You could surprise someone with fresh picked flowers from your garden. Send a simple greeting card to someone you know just to brighten their day. Or, send a greeting card to a nursing home or hospital to make someone feel special and thought of.
Whatever you choose to do, we just hope you take advantage of Give Back Thursday and perform some type of Random Act of Kindness. Your act of kindness might inspire someone else’s act of kindness and this is something we would love to see spread!
Need more ideas for Random Acts of Kindness?
Here is a website with other ideas https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/