Random Acts of Kindness Day celebrated worldwide Feb 17

February 17, 2012

Random Acts of Kindness Day is the name of an unofficial holiday increasingly celebrated around the world on February 17 in order to encourage acts of kindness.

It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture, just smile at some passers by, look people directly in the eye when talking to them, give people some extra time to listen to actually how they are, help a coworker, take a friend to lunch, pay for a stranger’s bus ride or toll……

These are just a few examples of simple little things to do today that could change someone’s life forever. And science has shown that it will change yours too!

Research shows that there are strong links between random acts of kindness and improvements in the health of people, so do not forget to do something kind today.

Post what random act of kindness you did today in the comments section! I want to hear from you!

Doing Good Deeds proven contagious – Pay It Forward

Doing selfless good deeds, or just being kind, is contagious — and the behavior of a few can influence many, a new study suggests.

Participants played a “public-goods” game in which one person gives money to others. Players didn’t know each other before the game and never played it more than once with the same person. Yet researchers found that generosity in the first round was tripled by others, who were directly or indirectly influenced to give more.  

When people benefit from kindness, they “pay it forward,” which creates greater cooperation that influences others in a social network, say researchers Nicholas Christakis, a physician and sociologist at Harvard University, and James Fowler, a social scientist at the University of California-San Diego. Findings were published in March in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Christakis and Fowler also have found happiness, loneliness and obesity to be contagious. In their earlier work, they used records of individuals in Framingham, Mass. But the new study is the first laboratory evidence to support a domino effect in contagion, they say.

www.usaweekend.com

Kindness Week Act 5

Friday, February 19, 2010, Act 145.

There never seems to be enough time to visit friends.  After a recent work event was completed, a friend of mine works at the huge facility where the event took place, so I took the time to go and stop by. I don’t get to see this person much and thought it would be a great gesture to show a friendship that I took the time to visit.

The Twelve Days of Kindness – Day 4, Act 130

Thursday, December 17, Day 4, Act 130:

This act wasn’t performed by me, but made such a significant impact, it had to be shared. This was performed by hundreds of college students, college students mind you, that gave and gave for the benefit of someone else.

You Load 15 tons…………..

Sheets, towels, t-shirts and pants were among the more than 30,000 pounds – or 15 tons – of used textile products that were collected by West Virginia University students to benefit the homeless.

The items were collected throughout the month of November by students in WVU’s Fashion Design and Merchandising program. The 2009 A-WEAR-ness Campaign for the Homeless was led by Tracy Vash’s Fashion Design and Merchandising 235 class.

The collected items have been donated to the Clarksburg Mission, which is in the process of sorting to identify wearable garments and bailing those goods that have lost their serviceability. Proceeds will then go to support the mission’s programs and activities.

Recyclable textiles include clothing, shoes, purses, belts, bed linens, towels, stuffed animals and fabric scraps. The materials are usually broken down into component parts and rewoven into new products.

Since the campaign’s creation in 2005, over 112,700 pounds of textiles have been collected for redistribution and recycling. Two permanent collection boxes have been installed at the Student Recreation Center on WVU’s Evansdale Campus and at WVU’s Intermodal Facility.

Way to go Mountaineers!

Students act out in “thinking kindness”

MANITOWOC — Kids sometimes act in uncharacteristic ways because of Brian Williams. One day, an entire class of fifth-graders came to school with newly shaved heads, boys and girls alike.

Don’t worry — it was parent-approved.

One of the students’ classmates was going through chemotherapy and was afraid to come back to school after losing his hair. The students shaved their heads in an act of solidarity, to make their classmate feel welcome back at school.

This act of kindness is one of more than 125,000, large and small, that have stemmed from Williams’ “Think Kindness” program, which is in the middle of its run among nine Manitowoc-area elementary schools.

Williams, a 27-year-old martial arts black belt from Nevada, does a combination martial arts demonstration and motivational speech to kick off each school’s two-week mission: to do and document 5,000 acts of kindness and to donate 10,000 pairs of shoes to people around the world.

Students record their kind acts in journals. The target is to eventually generate one million acts of kindness, which can be as simple as holding open the door for someone.

Williams partnered with Soles4Souls, a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes shoes around the world, after two competing Think Kindness high schools came up with the idea to collect shoes, he said. Now, each elementary student is encouraged to get one person they know to send a text message, which will automatically donate $5 — enough for two pairs of new shoes — to the cause.

Act 95

Friday, April 17, 2009.

Today I was able to teach three free one hour workshops for the Community College. The subject was social media 101 and how to utilize these new tools for business, family, and students. The workshops were great. Well attended with attentive audiences.

But the last workshop of the day was a little different. Only 1 person showed up for it. I could have cancelled it and went home early, but I wanted to give the student who wanted to learn a chance to participate in the new phenomenon of social media currently taking place. I actually stayed the entire hour and spent it one-on-one with the student answering questions and showing how these new media tools worked.

Act 93

Wednesday, April 15, 2009.

I was getting out of my car and starting to cross the street when behind me there were (I think) four other students trying to cross the street also. The traffic was unusually busy that day for some reason. But I wanted to help the others so I made the first move out into the middle of the street. I then went into traffic controller mode and held up both arms to stop the line of traffic coming in both directions.

The students and I crossed the road without any problems and I was pleased that I could help.

Act 59

Thursday, March 12, 2009.

As I was heading to class today I saw a young college student carrying a load of books and a backpack across the street and heading into one of the buildings on campus. As my load was much lighter, I hurried ahead of the student and opened the door for them to easily enter the college building without dropping any books from the trouble of opening a door.

Act 32

Friday, February 13, 2009.

Today before a class I have, I was able to help a fellow student with their homework. The professor was going to be taking up the homework in class and this student wasn’t in class on Wednesday because of being sick.

We had just enough time that I could give some examples of how the homework was supposed to be done and the student was able to complete their assignment and turn it in on time.