a valentine’s kindness mission: rva coffee love
February 13, 2014
It’ s almost Valentine’s Day guys! There are no neutral feelings about this day, people either love or hate it THE WHOLE WAY. I think this is because the day serves as some measure or barometer of how we love or are loved. Chances are, romantic or not, we could all use a little more. We long to be included in a party of love, one we are ALL invited to.
In the world of love expression, small acts are magic to me. I don’t feel too sheepish to receive them and they still hold a genuine weight in my heart. When done by a stranger, I am sure the whole world is conspiring to be connected- this brings me ridiculous joy and hope.
On Monday, I met with some lovely folks in RVA looking to do something BIG and KIND, then after lots of dreaming and talking, we came to a starting point of small and wide- which I love so, so much. I believe almost everything beautiful starts small and usually with just one person (which turns into a billion).
SO, I give you #RVACOFFEELOVE (a party of kindness, one we are all invited to):
On Friday- Valentine’s Day- the Richmond community is encouraging everyone to share love by buying a stranger a cup of coffee at your favorite coffee shop.
Check out RVA Coffee Love for more info. Be sure to tag your pics with #rvacoffeelove too!
If you want to participate but are super broke ( been there and still visit often!), we will have a few kindness kits at the LOHK wall complete with coffee gift cards and certificates (look for small boxes in ziplocs behind the window grates).
Inside each box there will be a gift card with enough $ for one cup of coffee for you and one to share, a small tip for the barista, stickers and a bit of chocolate because ALL kindness missions are better with chocolate!
Look for kits starting late this afternoon (2/13)- hopefully some with still be left by morning! I will post pics on my Instagram when they are up.
I hope you feel so loved tomorrow, and if you don’t, I hope creating some will bring you joy and hope.
This is RVA, we have kindness here. *
logo designed by the amazing Ryn Bruce – check out her VERY rad social experiment here.
*If you are not in RVA, you can still play! Do the mission and hashtag all pics #coffeelove or post them on the LOHK Facebook page.
WomanKINDness: a kindness mission in honor of the Monkees
February 3, 2014
I took a pregnancy test at a Harris Teeter grocery store once. It was one of those moments where my namesake was of no help at all. There was NO patience, not even a little bit, I had to know.
I remember looking at the two pink lines in shock but somehow I shoved the truth telling stick in my bag, washed my hands and finished my grocery shopping, of course. While standing in front of the 1,000 choices of yogurt, I glanced over at an older woman standing next to me. It instantly felt so very surreal- I was holding this information that would drastically change my life, information so big, and she was standing next to me with absolutely no idea what just happened- we were just both deciding whether to pick cherry orchard or key lime pie yoplait.
Part of me wanted to blurt out- “I’m pregnant!! THIS IS SO WEIRD and I’m kinda terrified and excited, and CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!!”…but that seemed super creepy, but now I wish I had. Because then there was another time when a dear friend was dying, way before her time, a girl with more life and fire in her than anyone I had ever met- and this time I found myself in front of that same row of yogurt, now with a baby on my hip, wanting to burst into tears. It felt surreal in a different way, the whole world was going on, buying yogurt and bagels, and she was still fighting…and losing…and that felt so wrong. In that moment, it was all too much for any of us to hold alone.
So we walk through life, standing right next to each other with no idea and yet with all the humanity required.
In a bit of divinity and magic, we sometimes find the words and crawl towards each other, or we hear of gatherings in the bread aisle where people find each other in the most ordinary of places and exchange offerings of bravery and kindness- Momastery is such a place.
This Saturday, I will be speaking at WomanKind, a wonderful conference created by women who yearned for creating a community and lasting togetherness. In the spirit of this goodness, we are inviting our fellow sisters to join us in 3 kindness missions this week- one mission each to honor the work of 3 main speakers and the communities they serve.
Today we have a mission in honor of Glennon Melton and the Monkees who are finding each other, again and again with so much hope and love.
So here goes:
There is a woman waiting for her latte who is getting a call about her chemo results later this afternoon…
There is a kid who just stepped off the bus that changed her clothes 10 times this morning because she is wondering if she will ever feel beautiful…
There is a mom who is reading every weather report know to man and panicking because she is just not sure she can handle another snow day…
There is a woman that is cleaning someone else’s toilets and feels completely defeated when she looks at the state of her own house, there is just no time in 3 jobs world…
There is a woman walking into the business meeting of her life, the kind where she has to gather her deep bravery to stand in all her power…
There is a woman who has to tell her children that their dad just died of a drug overdose, he had been sober for 23 years before last year, bless his very tender heart…
and all these women will be walking to a bus stop, or waiting at a Starbucks, or opening a locker, or pushing the elevator button or stopping by the grocery store.
Here’s your mission:
1.Find a post-it and write down a note of hope or encouragement*, maybe even something you need to hear yourself and leave it in a public place for someone to find.
Because the truth is, even if we never speak to each other, or we have no idea…we can be together. It just doesn’t work any other way.
2. Take a picture of you, or your note or where you left it and post it to the WomanKind Facebook page . Be sure to tag it #WomanKINDness on Instagram , Facebook or Twitter.
3. ALSO, if YOU need a message today, let me know at Patience@kindnessgirl.com and we’ll send you a post-it pic of hope privately or on the LOHK page.
Hope to see your kind faces on Friday night or Saturday, if you still need tickets, you can get them here .
With kindness,
p
*p.s. simple messages work just fine- you are loved, you matter, we are with you, you survived, you are beautiful…just the right person will find it.
sweet magic and sisters…
October 18, 2012
If you ask a pair or group of sisters any question, you will quickly get the real deal on any given subject. This is what I love about them, well, that and you can feel like one at any moment…you can feel sisterhood. Chrissy and Sarah (who are actual sisters) from Sweet Spot in Short Pump are these kind of friends. I think this must be why their candy shop feels more like a hang out…a super yummy hangout.
They are funny, sweet and kind. There are little pockets of their killer style and friendship all over the shop but I was even more drawn to their sense of community and desire to use their space for something good. I think this little shop will be a haven for kindness.
It’s the kind of togetherness that you have to live first, and then hold the space for others to experience. When they contacted me about wanting to do a kindness project for Sweetest Day (celebrated officially on 10/20), I was so jazzed. The ideas flowed and I think there will be more to come but we thought inviting some kindness magic was a really great place to start. Especially since Sarah’s daughter Maggie (age 3) found a Magic Wand that my daughter Lyra (age 3) left near the shop one day before we met.
So come join us (and the sisters), bring your kids (and their sisters, brothers too) and hang out with us as we create a little kindness magic together! If you want to learn more about The Magic Wand Project for Kids, you can check it out here. The Magic Wand Project For Kids is a community adventure where kids can discover their kindness magic can change our world!
See you tomorrow (Friday, October 19th) at Sweet Spot from 4-5:30pm at
2228 Old Brick Road Glen Allen, VA 23060
(804) 360-7768
Can’t wait!
*just a little fyi, no monies exchanged in this here partnership, just a little more kindness in our town. 🙂
making happy happen…
October 18, 2012
I met Kelly on the first day of a new school, a new direction, a new start for my family. We had just made a huge decision to pull our kids from a really stable, established, old elementary school to a brand new charter school. It was the first of its kind in the entire state. Josiah was nervous, things are always tricky with new…and then there was Kelly, his teacher, she was a force of light…and happy.
The year ended up being hard because trailblazing is, there were SO many problems/challenges in the school but Josiah was thriving like I had never seen. I knew this teacher was some kind of magic. Her positivity, her grit, her joy was contagious. The year ended and she moved on to her next act of goodness. She started Happy Camper Productions.
From HCP:
Happy Camper Productions exists to spread good cheer, unite the community, and help those who need it most. We work with local causes and organizations to host events, drives and collections. We host our own functions as well as energize existing programs by involving the Happy Camper Nation – our loyal members and overall do-gooders who look to make a difference, but don’t necessarily know how.
*
At a new beginning again, the Kelly Elias and HCP force is moving, spreading their joy and goodness from the start. The very first Happy Camper Fest is on for THIS Saturday from 12-6pm at The Canal Turning Basin. It will be an annual event held by Happy Camper Productions to celebrate everything wonderful in the Richmond area. The primary recipients of donations made through the fest this year will go to The Richmond SPCA has and Communities in Schools of Richmond .
Don’t miss the Canal Run & Walk, Dog trick and costume contests, local artists/farmers, local bands, local businesses, local food /beverages, and much more.
I am really excited because Kindnessgirl will be there with very rad kids from The James River High Guerrilla Goodness club. 2 really lovely students came to me this spring wanting to start the group after some amazing kindness stuff happened there last year…turns out 90 kids showed up at the first meeting last week.
We’ve never done anything like this before but our tent will invite folks to think about happiness and kindness together and there will be a kindness mission for everyone to take away. Also excited to be handing out Kindness Changes Everything stickers (with love from Suzanne and I) AND Tag, You’re It RVA kindness game cards!
Hope to see you all there!
mirth and magic…
July 24, 2012
photo taken from the World of Mirth Facebook page
Do you have some places in your city that just make you proud? …or feel cooler somehow (which is huge for me as I do not have a cool bone in my entire body)? Like when someone comes to visit, I say, “Let’s go to the river…oh, and there is this REALLY great toy store in Carytown, but it’s even more than a toy store…oh, AND a chocolate store near there too.”
World of Mirth in Carytown is one of those places for me. Besides a store feeling like art, it may be my friend Thea Brown that makes it especially rad. I have wanted to do something, anything with this crew for awhile now so I was really excited when Thea said yes to adding some magic to the mirth.
These are community events that are making our city known for being kind- these are the friendships and partnerships that create goodness and a really great place for our kids to live. This is the stuff to be proud of…cool toy stores and kindness.
Hope the RVA crowd can join us tomorrow for a Magic Wand Making Party from 1-3pm for The Magic Wand Project for Kids.
We will be making kindness magic wands for kids to take home and start some kindness…or leave somewhere in the city for another kid to find. All supplies provided, just bring your happy (or grouchy) selves and kids.
You can just show up or let us know you are coming on the Facebook Event Page here.
World Of Mirth
3005 West Cary Street
Richmond, Va 23221
Would love to see you all there! Bring on the glitter and kindness…more is more!
the most simple way to love…
June 22, 2012
I am starting to wonder if it isn’t the most simple ways of connection that hold the greatest hope for change and good.
One man knowing deep in his soul and body that growing something green can bring us together and care for our most basic need that every human deserves
One woman believing sharing salad can heal us and bring life
One family calling in the rhythm of an ancient goodness with drums
…and for one sweaty Richmond night, none of it feels so complicated…it’s just a gathering of people in a community garden, eating salad, while kids give wagon rides and take turns watering the plants…and someone gets an impromptu photography lesson and another financial advice…while others that had no plans at all find their way out of their houses to listen to the drums.
…and the space is held unknowingly and yet with so much intention.
*
…because growth, food and community are the most simple ways to love.
If you live in RVA, you can join us for the garden and salad magic at RVA Salad Fest #2 this Sunday at 7pm at the McDonough Community Garden in Woodland Heights! Thanks to Duron and Maat for including me!
*these 2 sweet souls had never met but I caught this sweet hug at the end of the night.
the wand making party and kindness magic everywhere!
June 6, 2012
Guys! Kindness magic is EVERYWHERE…like every where I turn there are more wands, more magic, more kindness from The Magic Wand Project for Kids. (we think there are close to 1,000 magic kindness wands out!)
…we ran out of wands and funds over here but that does NOT stop kindness…we decided to have a wand making party. The neighborhood kids were all about it and created their own magic in the process.
For the wands:
Sticks
Wood dowels (that we spray painted silver)
Those skinny green bamboo sticks that you use in the garden also work great
For the stars:
I just drew a star freehand, although there are lots of star templates on the internet, we just cut ours out from some recycled cardboard
Some craft stores also sell wood star cutouts
Foam sheets are another great option
We found some lovely glitter paint so we didn’t have to mess with actual glitter although glitter is super magical!
For the pretty:
Glitter
Buttons- beware of choking hazards though!
Googly eyes
Feathers- oh, how I adore feathers
To put them together:
We used hot glue which won’t exactly make them weather proof but we thought they will still hold up well in doors.
We laminated (which was so exciting!) the tags- that you can download here– hole punched them and attached with a clear zip tie. We then cut the extra length of the zip tie off.
Make a wish:
Don’t forget to make a wish that just the right kid will find the wand and that more kindness will make a way to the place it is needed most.
We added a bit of our love and sent them out into the world. I think the thing I am most amazed by is how kids of all ages seem to love this project…and how it has opened my own heart to think about magic and kindness in a new way! LOVE!!!
We thought you might like to see how the magic is unfolding for kids across the nation, pictures and stories are coming in daily on The Magic Wand Project Facebook page. Here are just a few magical kids!
The response from teachers and schools has been so fantastic that we created The Magic Wand Project Teacher Guide. I hope we see lots of kindness pop up in summer school and even more wand making parties!
You can download The Teacher Guide here. (thanks to Lourdes and Jennifer for helping on the tech end with that!)
You are also welcome to share the video too!
Special thanks to our friends at Macaroni Kid Richmond who have helped to spread the word and to all the schools and teachers (and kind kids) that are joining us in all the magic!
Keep all the pictures coming! They do all our hearts some serious good! Kindness is MAGIC!
xo,
patience
magic Style!
May 15, 2012
photo by Jason Roop
Thanks to Style Weekly for sharing The Magic Wand Project with Richmond in this week’s issue on news stands now. You can read the article here.* I am so grateful!
Here’s some info:
You can read more about the project here. I would love to know
If you could be part of one thing to create GOOD in RVA (or your city),
What would it be?
You can read about the Kids project here.
We are inviting kids to discover their kindness magic and do 3 acts of kindness and then pass on the wand or hide it for another kid to find.
What is so crazy is that in less than a week, Magic Wands are popping up in Kansas, Washington and all over Virginia.
We would love to see schools get involved, if are interested, you can download a tag and make your own wands with your class! (or pass a wand around filling up your school with kindness! )
the magic is out…
May 11, 2012
I released 2 new kindness projects out into the world yesterday. It is so exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. There is this feeling like –
“Oh my God, I hope it works, I hope it takes off…do you think people will actually do it?!! ”
and also
“Oh it doesn’t even matter, I just HAD to do it, come what may! and JORGE, can you imagine all those sweet magic wands out in the world? ”
Those 2 phrases go on repeat in my head for the first day…but today, things are settling and kindness is moving despite my crazy head conversations.
So here are the projects:
The Magic Wand Project is a social kindness experiment inviting people to discover what they love and care about in their city and community…AND consider where they might share their magic to make the place we live better.
We left 100 Magic wands all over the city with the note attached:
MAGIC! The Magic Wand found you, yep YOU!
So tell me, If you could be part of one thing to create GOOD in RVA (or your city),
WHAT WOULD IT BE?
We then asked people to tell us here at KindnessGirl and then leave the wand somewhere else for the next person to find.
You can read more about it here.
The Magic Wand Project For Kids is a project where kids can discover their kindness magic can change our world! We left 100 Magic Wands at playgrounds, parks, libraries and other places kids might find them.
We attached this note:
The Magic Wand of Kindness found you, yep YOU!
“Magic doesn’t come from the world, it comes from people, and their kindness, that’s where magic comes from.” -Jack, age 7.
Your mission: Discover your magic and do 3 acts of kindness. Send us pictures or share your kindness adventures at
http://www.facebook.com/themagicwandprojectforkids
After you are done, give this wand to a friend or leave it for another kid to find. Have fun!
You can read more about the project here.
It’s going to take a little bit of time to get the projects rolling but I was SUPER stoked when someone on Twitter (my new friend Sarah!) had already found a wand and sent me this pic!
Then I went to take a kid’s wand to my children’s school this morning thinking they could pass it around and get some kindness going when the very rad art teacher Anne suggested ALL the kids make wands to leave in their neighborhoods and playgrounds. Just like that, kindness wands doubled in the world.
SOoooo, I don’t know what is happening you guys, but something is definitely happening…and it’s changing everything.
guerrilla goodness: the great day of garbage gratitude
January 23, 2012
What do you think the most thankless job in America is? I had my own idea but decided to take an informal poll among friends, family, and of course Facebook. It turns out, garbage collectors won by a landslide. I can’t say I was surprised. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, we create an additional one million tons of waste, which is a whopping 25% more that our collectors have to pick up and haul away.
These are people that are part of our lives, in our backyards or front sidewalk, taking away all our decay, the stuff we don’t want or no longer serves us. Yet even though these guys are in my living space every week, I really had no idea what they might look like or what their names were. I started to wonder so I woke up early one Friday morning and waited for them to roll down my alley.
I must have looked like a total loon waving my hands and carrying my camera but they stopped the truck and hopped out at my back gate. I introduced myself while Vejay, Lionel and Joe pulled off work gloves to shake my hand. We chatted for a moment and I told them I was interested in doing a kindness project for garbage collectors. I asked them what kind of kindness they thought was needed.
Joe leaned against the garbage can and said, “You know, we just need a little respect.”
“Yep, pretty sure everyone needs and deserves that, huh?” I replied.
“Yes, they do. Yes they do.” Joe said.
The kindness mission was sparked. What could be a more lovely and simple message of respect than saying, “I see you, I value your contribution to my community and I thank you.”?
Sometimes it is the smallest act of kindness that makes the greatest impact on a person. Meeting a basic human need may be all it takes to make a change. All I could imagine was Joe lifting can after can with notes of gratitude attached, throughout an entire neighborhood, maybe even a whole city.
So I asked the kids in my daughter’s kindergarten class if they would like to join me in writing thank you notes since they had just been learning about community helpers. The kids were stoked to take the mission on and the kindness started moving. Word traveled and seven more schools wanted in.
awesome thank you note from the kids at Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts
Here is the kindness mission, if you would like to join us:
1. Write a note of thanks to your garbage collector sometime from now until February 3rd.
2. You may want to include a gift card for coffee from your local coffee shop or gas station.
3. Attach it to your garbage can on pick up day for your collector to find.
4. Take a picture and send it to patience@kindnessgirl.com or upload it to our Guerrilla Goodness Flickr pool.
5. Tell us in the comments what city you are from so we can see how far our garbage gratitude is traveling. If you invited your school to join us, let us know the school too. Some schools are including their custodians in on the thank you note kindness too!
6. Hit the Facebook or Twitter button below to share or like…we all know Facebook and Twitter rule the world!
Can you imagine if there was a wave of gratitude across an entire nation? Garbage collectors may get kicked off the top of that most thankless job list. I imagine Joe would be just fine with that.
guerrilla goodness: message to the world…
October 16, 2011
I want to think again of dangerous and noble things,
I want to be light and frolicsome,
I want to be improbable and beautiful,
as though I had wings.
-Mary Oliver
I love the idea that messages are left in the world for us to discover. I was reminded of this one via my friend Jaime, I’m not sure she even knows she passed it to me, but she did…that Mary Oliver gets my gut and heart every time.
I bought some register tape (about 2.5 inches, maybe less) for the kids as part of our art studio and stumbled upon it the other day. It’s wonderful when something can go on and on, even longer than you imagine. I realized the paper is also the perfect size for in between the chain link fence- my guerrilla mind exploded!
So here’s the mission:
1. If you could leave the world a message, what would it say? OR maybe you need to leave one for yourself? What would leave your heart full or give you courage to take a next step? (whatever that may be)
2. Buy some register tape- any old office supply place has them.
3. Write a quote or a message to the world, yourself, a friend…leave a few. They also work on wood fences but need more space for the words and are a little trickier to thread through.
4. This mission is a little harder to do with out getting caught because it takes time to get it securely weaved.
Plan it for some one when they aren’t home (and NOT on the neighbors fence!) or go early in the morning to a park, or other public space- night may get you in trouble. Also be sure to pick up your trash in a week or two, or after the rain.
5. Take a picture!!! Whip out that trusty iphone or droid, share your message with US!!! We wanna see and be inspired! You can post the pic on the Facebook Guerrilla Goodness page or send it to me and I can do it for you!! patience@kindnessgirl.com
Have fun!
Oh! and don’t forget, our Dinner with Jimmy Mission ends on October 18th! You can still e-mail me your pics to be forwarded on to Dolores.
ETA- I think the register tape would work around trees and poles!!! oh, the kindness ideas never end…
guerrilla goodness: back to school chalk love
August 23, 2011
It’s back! It’s time for the sidewalk chalk love again friends! You may remember when hundreds of folks ALL over the country headed out with sidewalk chalk to encourage the kids of their cities and towns on the first day of school. Well, we are doin’ it again and would love to have you join us!
I don’t know about you, but I could never sleep the night before school started. I wondered what my teacher was going to be like, who I would sit next to, what the work would be. It can all be a little overwhelming. Everybody could use a little encouragement, just a little reminder that you are loved!
So here’s the mission:
1. Grab some bright sidewalk chalk.
2. You head out with friends, family, kids, dogs, grandmothers, artists, whoever…and write positive messges to kids on the sidewalks in front of the elementary schools (or any schools, universities, etc.) in your neighborhood, or even your own sidewalk for the first day of school. Here are some things you can write:
Have a GREAT first day of school!!
It’s going to be a awesome year!
You look fantastic!
We believe in you!
if you want more ideas, check out the pictures of what other people have done here.
3. Go home blissed out with the kindness high!
4. If you are a kindness kid, be super quiet when you are walking to school the next day and everyone around you is talking about the cool art out front… and smile.
5. If you are a Richmonder and want to participate, reach out to your local school administration and send them a link to this post for permission. If just the idea makes you tired or sweat, contact me and I’ll do it for you! patience@kindnessgirl.com
6. If you decide to do this project or blog about it, please leave a comment so we can highlight your kindness work and watch it grow! Don’t forget to send me pictures and I’ll post them or simply add them to our GG Facebook Page.
Also, if you want to learn about school kindness trees, my friend Chris had this awesome idea!
*go at your own risk…be safe, go to familiar places and with others, ask permission if needed, be smart and respectful. It’s more fun that way!
guerrilla goodness: library love
July 16, 2011
Jack’s message to the next Harry Potter enthusiast
Can I tell you I am the world’s worst library citizen? …I almost always have a late fee, I lose a book at least once a quarter, and I’m never sure exactly where my card is. Even still, the library, in all her grace, continues to let me try again. and again. and again.
We had a full day of kindness adventures, a marathon if you will, while working on a big kindness project for the fall (which I can’t wait to share!) and we found ourselves at the library. (with a gaggle of kids, dear friends and neighbors) This little outing was after the free slurpee day which meant it was almost impossible to be quiet, but we did our best- there was just mass amounts of excitement over red and blue frozen drinks and new books!
So here’s the mission:
1. Take your trusty little post-it note pad to the library.
2. Leave encouraging notes on the covers and inside of books. (my friend Jen and I couldn’t get out the self-help parenting section!)
3. Trust the universe to send the right book and message to just the right person!
The best part is, you don’t even have to have a library card, or check anything out for this mission, perfect for a library slacker like me!
If you decide to do this mission, leave us a link to your blog or pictures in the comments…or upload the pics to the Guerrilla Goodness Flickr Pool!Check out more Guerrilla Goodness missions here!
fields of kindness…
May 11, 2011
berries from Gallmeyer Farms
it’s the field…
it’s the wind…
it’s the beauty of growing…
it’s someone’s hands in the dirt…
it’s labor…
it’s bold red peeking out from a green leaf…
it’s the harvest…
it’s the Marlboro man, watching over his dog and field…
it’s long and late afternoons dancing with the sun…
it’s feeling as if the earth is conspiring to love me with her bounty…
it’s sweet, nature’s candy…
it’s memories of swollen bellies, and carrying babies on my back…
it’s my soul revived…
it’s spring returned and promises of summer…
I can’t tell you how all of me gets rearranged and made right when I go for the first day of picking berries. Because I know, it is just the beginning of a long, wonderful season. I sing the in field, I watch my children play, I feel close to the earth and my truest self, I can barely wait to give them away, I feel so connected to everything…it is the ultimate kindness to me and one I have no trouble receiving.
*sigh* I can’t even TRY to not be cheesy about it all…I am totally smitten. Here are the little giveaway boxes from the first pick. You can find the origami tutorial here. I use heavy cardstock like you use for scrapbooking- works fantastic!
If you are in Richmond…and you need a little something extra this week. Write me at patience@kindnessgirl.com (include an address) and I will Ding Dong Ditch you a small box of strawberries from the fields of kindness…for reals!
May your ultimate kindness, whatever it is for you, find you today!
i love my mom because…
May 2, 2011
So these were some of my favorites from the weekend that made our GREAT Wall of Motherly Kindness!
Feel free to leave your I love my mom because… comments below and I will add them to the kindness blackboard at Franklin Goose! Look for Franklin Goose’s #motherlykindness tweets too!
….and also, in other kindness news, thank you to the very kind people of Richmond that voted to include KindnessGirl in the Best of Richmond issue from Style Weekly. I have this dream that my dear middle sized city will someday be known for its’ kindness, and I am so excited that the joy of kindness is spreading in the world…and that I get to be part of it! (you too!) So THANK YOU to all who voted!
I love chalkboards, I love them so much! (and we know how I feel about the magic of chalking!) I love writing on black, that nothing is permanent, how bright or simple or strong a message can be. I keep a small chalk board on my front porch, and every month I leave a message for myself and for whoever else might be strolling by.
It is good to see over and over again, to pass by and soak in the things I am hoping to know, trust or live. So Mother’s Day is quickly approaching and I started to wonder about the messages you most need to know when you are a mom.
Some years you really need to know all you are and have held are seen…appreciated and loved, other years it’s light and celebratory, some times reflective and hard, it can be all kinds of things. Truly.
This got me thinking…I love eavesdropping on kid’s conversations, the way they talk to other kids, how honest they are . You laugh and know whatever it is, it’s the truth.
So I had an idea, I wondered if together as a kid to some mom some where, WE could write our messages to our moms or to any mom, when they read it, they will know which message was for them, no matter who wrote it. It would be a community art/kindness project- The GREAT Wall of Motherly Kindness.
I reached out to my friends at a local retail store here in Richmond, Franklin Goose and asked if they would like to partner with me. I was so happy Sheri was down with the idea, but not surprised, she is kind like that!
So here’s how you can be part of the the GREAT Wall of Motherly Kindness:
1. If you live in RVA, please go do something nice for yourself in Carytown, drop by Franklin Goose and write your message on the wall or chalk the sidewalk! Kids are invited too- kid art is the best kindness to mothers! The wall will be up from now until Mother’s Day! (May 8th)
2. If you aren’t local, leave a message in the comment section or on my Facebook or Twitter pages and we will add your message to the wall! Don’t worry, I will friend or follow back! 🙂
3. Start your own wall! Do you have a place in your community where you could put a blackboard? I bet the friends in your city or town would love to share the love! We can also use your twitter feed as our virtual blackboard by using the hashtag #motherlykindness. Or add your blackboard, sidewalk message pictures to the Guerrilla Goodness Flickr Pool. …OR even head over to your mama’s house, grandma’s house, or some one that has been a mother to you and leave a chalk message for her!
4. Check back for pictures- yours and ours, we’ll be posting them all week!
Check out the wall and the all the buzz to love:
Behind the scenes: the real kindness story
Sheri so graciously got one blackboard going and then I started working on finding an old school rolling blackboard. It is at this point I must share with you how crazy kindness things unfold in my life. I was late for an appointment and school pick up, babysitting fell through, one huge chaotic event after the other, life as usual. I knew we needed the GREAT wall (i.e. blackboard) but had NO idea where I was going to find one or get it to the store. In the chaos of the tardy pick up, I quickly asked my dear friend Jean (L’s preschool teacher) if she had one we could borrow.
2 minutes later, she rolls this bad boy out in the parking lot! I start to laugh, there is no way I could take it. I don’t know what I thought I was going to do when I asked. She so kindly offered to bring it to my house for me. When she got to my house, she let me know the church just happened to be getting rid of some things that very day and the blackboard was mine to keep! My kindness brain was exploding with ideas. After all that, she asked all the right questions to reveal I had no way to transport it and she and Don took it to the store for me.
I can’t tell you how touched I am EVERY time, it is like this over and over again…and every time I am just as amazed by the power of kindness. SO thank you, THANK YOU Jean and Don…for such kindness to me.
Can’t wait to read your messages….much motherly love to you all!
chalk kindness+community=love
September 8, 2010
1. mary munford sidewalk love2, 2. tim callender sidewalk love6, 3. mary munford sidewalk love6, 4. by Jess Lucia 5. swift creek elementary3, 6. by Jess Lucia 7. Side Walk Chalk Geurrilla Goodness, 8. IMG_2495, 9. DSCN1292, 10. DSCN1269, 11. herbert’s kindness bush, 12. DSCN1255
Some went into the night all stealthy-like, others gathered in large groups but Sidewalk Chalk Love was all about community this year. Hundreds of kids, parents, teachers, administrators, lovely photographers, artists, even kind friends in the neighborhood, people all over the country left notes of love and encouragement for students everywhere!
I was amazed by how some schools had 30, 40 and even 50 people show up to chalk, teachers asked and their administrations took on the project together, kindness trees were popping up everywhere, there just seemed to be a special togetherness this year. The pictures are still pouring in and you can check some of them out at the Guerrilla Goodness Flickr Pool. You can also e-mail me with your photos at patience@kindnessgirl.com. Be sure to let us know if you participated so we can add your kindness work to the ever-growing list.
Thank you, thank you everyone for making this year so very special!
Kindnessgirl 