Sunday, June 18, 2017

26 Acts in 26 Days in honor of 26 People


In 26 days, it will be December 14th.
December 14th marks the 2 year anniversary of the Newtown shootings where 26 people (20 precious children & 6 adults) lost their lives at Sandy Hook.
Just like I have done in the past 2 years,  I will be doing 26 Acts of Kindness in the next 26 days in honor of the 26 lives that were lost.
 My heart still aches for the community of Sandy Hook & Newtown. 
They are still in my prayers & I haven't stopped thinking about them.
As you may remember, my friend Laura lives in Newtown & her 2 youngest children go to school at Sandy Hook. They physically survived the shootings, but the emotional wounds will never go away.
Laura did a guest post on my blog last year for the 1 year anniversary of Sandy Hook. It was beautiful, you can read it {HERE}
You may remember that after the shootings occurred in 2012, I also did 26 Acts of Kindness.
For ideas, you can read what I did HERE and HERE. 
Last year for the 1 year anniversary, I did 26 Acts of Kindness as well.
You can what I did in 2013 HERE
 Here are some more Random Acts of Kindness you can do:
  • Pay for the order of the person behind you in the drive-thru line.
  • Send friends and relatives notes or letters of encouragement on the back of your kids’ artwork.
  •  Leave love notes for your spouse or kids in their lunch.
  • Bring water, coffee, or hot chocolate to outdoor workers (like the crossing guard at your kids school or bus driver)
  •  Buy a soda or candy bar for the cashier when you’re checking out.
  • Give a restaurant or coffee gift card to someone (bank cashier, postal worker, homeless person, or random stranger)
  •  Send a silly card to brighten someone’s day.
  •  Call or email someone you haven’t talked to in awhile, just to ask how they are.
  •  Send your spouse a text just to tell him something that you appreciate about him.
  • Hide a kind note in a library book.
  •  Bake cookies for someone. (Postal carrier, neighbor, elderly friend, Sunday school teacher, Teacher, Teacher Aide, School Secretary, etc)
  • Leave coins on a parking meter or the machines at a laundry mat.
  • Pay the toll for the car behind you.
  • Give a huge tip on your next restaurant bill.
  • Offer to return someone’s shopping cart to the store.
  • Let someone go ahead of you in the checkout line.
  •  Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant.
  • Donate food to a food bank
  • Bring your child's teacher a coffee or treat
  • Send your child's teacher an email just to say thank you
  •  Make a meal to share with a sick or busy neighbor.
  • Offer to keep a friend’s kids so she and her husband can have some time alone.
  • Make cards for nursing home residents…and deliver them with your kids.
  • Pick up trash at the park.
  •  Thank a soldier & write them a note/card.
  • Make care bags for the homeless (Tolietries, bottled water, food store gift cards, non-perishable/ready-to-eat foods.)
  •  Buy car wash coupons and give them away.
  • Leave extra coupons on the store shelf next to the item they’re good for.
  • Tape envelopes with quarters to vending machines.
  • Take homemade cookies or cupcakes to the police or fire station.
  • Pack a date-night box  (red box movie, popcorn, soft drinks, movie candy) and leave it on someone’s doorstep. Ring the bell and run!
  • Bring a friend or neighbors Donuts one morning
  •  Take magazines, crosswords or Sudoku puzzles to a waiting room at the hospital
  •  Take flowers to a nurses’ station – for the nurses.
  •  Purchase a store gift card or a gas card and send it to a friend in need.
There are SO many simple things you can do. 

You don't need to spend money doing this, many things you can do for free or for minimal cost.
I am so excited to do this again. 
Kate is almost 8 and Claire is 6. They will be joining me in doing the acts of kindness. They are at an age where it is imperative teach them and model to them the importance of doing nice things for others. 
(I will not be telling them why we are doing the 26 Acts of Kindness....I don't think they need to know about the school shootings that happened 2 years ago. When they are older I will tell them, but not at ages 7 and 6. I will tell them we are doing Random Acts of Kindness to be nice)

You can even download this #26Acts printable to keep track.

 Download it {HERE}

As I do each act of kindness, I will say a prayer for each one of the victims families.
Here are the names of the 20 precious children:
Charlotte, Daniel, Olivia, Josephine, Ana, Dylan, Madeleine, Catherine, Chase, Jesse, James, Grace, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Avielle, Benjamin & Allison.
And 6 staff members:
Rachel Davino, Dawn Hochsprung, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Anne Marie Murphy & Victoria Soto.

You are not forgotten.
 
The 2 year anniversary & the holiday season are incredibly hard for the victims families.
I am going to try & complete my Acts of Kindness by December 14th
 (but if I don't finish by then, that's okay, I will try & get them done by Christmas)  
26 Acts of Kindness in 26 Days.
Honoring the 26 Victims.
I hope you will join me!
If you have any Random Acts of Kindness ideas, please put them in the comments.
 Let's spread kindness this holiday season!

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