SERVICE CLUBS

• Deliver Baskets of Kindness to shut-ins. Include items such as stationery, stamps, a deck of playing cards, a puzzle or game, a magazine, fresh flowers, a book, a mug, cookies or other treat, and a greeting card signed by the service club members.
• Take a Head Start class or a youth organization to a fast food restaurant for conversation and possible future mentoring.
• Prepare a special meal or dessert for seniors or nursing home residents.
• Create floral arrangements for a senior center, nursing home, police station, hospital, or the homebound.
• Create kindness handouts for merchants to give out.
• Visit nursing homes or senior centers with recordings of songs that bring back memories, such as Mitch Miller.
• Create a collection box for kindness stories that merchants can put on their counters. Then create a newsletter featuring these stories.
• Host a kindness storytelling party at a veterans hospital or other health care facility.
• Organize a blood drive dedicated to Random Acts of Kindness.
• Collect goods for a food bank or shelter.
• Work with retirement/senior centers or residential facilities to develop interactive programs with young children.
• Set up free coffee, tea, or hot chocolate for morning commuters. During warm months, offer water and lemonade.
• Host a tea and dancing social or bingo night for seniors.
• Sponsor a “Kindness Zone” or “Practice Random Acts of Kindness” sign at entrances to the downtown area of your community.
• Start a ribbon campaign. Give out kindness ribbons to be worn and passed on to another person. The giver of the kind act can sign the back of the ribbon before passing it along. At the end of the campaign, display the signed ribbons at the mayor’s office or city hall.
• Hold a teddy bear drive, and donate the collected bears for police or firefighters to give to traumatized children.
• Work with schools, businesses, and merchants to raise “Pennies for a Kindness Park” (or other community beautification project). Pennies don’t seem to have much value, but when combined, they do make a difference. In the same way, one kind act may seem insignificant, but many kind acts practiced daily have great impact.
• Sponsor the planting of a Kindness Tree or Garden. With the help of youth groups, service clubs, or other volunteers, plant the tree or flowers in a public area like a park or walking trail.
• Sponsor a “Kindness Mascot” to visit schools for a day. The mascot can talk about Random Acts of Kindness and distribute cheerful stickers or handmade bookmarks with kindness quotes on them.
• Collect personal care items, new underwear, and socks for homeless shelters and safe houses.
• Create art or crafts, such as quilts, afghans, or baby blankets, and donate them to be auctioned or given away by a nonprofit organization or group.
• Sew comfort items for the police trauma unit or a children’s hospital. Traumatized children and pediatric cancer patients appreciate small quilts or stuffed animals for cuddling. Chemotherapy patients often need head coverings.
• Write a kind note to relatives and friends, letting them know why they are special.
• Create photo memory albums for your family to remind them of special times.
• Help a neighbor or friend who has lost a job write a resumé or cover letter.
• Gather a collection of kindness stories from friends and relatives. Copy these stories and give the collection as a gift.
• Communicate by e-mail with a friend, sharing kindness stories and your current kindness projects.
• If your town or city has a Kindness Coordinator, offer to help create giveaways or other gifts, such as RAK ribbons or handmade prizes.
• Draw secret pals and do anonymous kind acts for your secret pal.
• Have a donation drive for dog food, cat food and kitty litter for your local animal shelter.
• Make cards and favors for homebound people that can be delivered with meals.