Effort causes change. Do and you'll become. Become and you'll do.
This is the basis for why I believe Build Kindness will work and is worthwhile.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Build Kindness' First Fundraiser
I am excited to announce that Build Kindness is teaming up with Switchboard Missions to do our first fundraiser.
Nashville: Flooded by Kindness is a book we are developing to showcase the city's amazing response to the 1000 year flood of 2010. This book will provide an interesting and unique perceptive of the flood, the community wide efforts to clean up, the rebuilding of Nashville, and how the city managed to bounced back stronger after this natural disaster.
Books are expensive to create, so our plan is to have local and regional businesses sponsor individual pages within the book. This gives businesses the opportunity to attach their names to stories of good will and these sponsorships, in turn, allow 100% of the sales proceeds to go to fund Build Kindness and Switchboard initiatives during the upcoming year.
To make this opportunity as enticing to business owners as possible, we are currently in the process of compiling a presale pledge list. Having a large list of individuals who are interested in owning one or more of these books will make sponsors more likely to get involved with our project.
This is where we could use your help. We are looking to get 500 books pledged. If you're interested in owning a copy of Nashville: Flooded by Kindness, follow this link to our petition site. Don't worry, we are not collecting any payment information and you will not be charged for pledging to purchase a book at the petition site. We are only using the petition to compile the list of individuals interested in purchasing our book.
If you sign up, when the book is nearing completion, we'll contact you so you can cancel, complete, or add to your book order.
Thanks for your support!
Nashville: Flooded by Kindness is a book we are developing to showcase the city's amazing response to the 1000 year flood of 2010. This book will provide an interesting and unique perceptive of the flood, the community wide efforts to clean up, the rebuilding of Nashville, and how the city managed to bounced back stronger after this natural disaster.
Books are expensive to create, so our plan is to have local and regional businesses sponsor individual pages within the book. This gives businesses the opportunity to attach their names to stories of good will and these sponsorships, in turn, allow 100% of the sales proceeds to go to fund Build Kindness and Switchboard initiatives during the upcoming year.
To make this opportunity as enticing to business owners as possible, we are currently in the process of compiling a presale pledge list. Having a large list of individuals who are interested in owning one or more of these books will make sponsors more likely to get involved with our project.
This is where we could use your help. We are looking to get 500 books pledged. If you're interested in owning a copy of Nashville: Flooded by Kindness, follow this link to our petition site. Don't worry, we are not collecting any payment information and you will not be charged for pledging to purchase a book at the petition site. We are only using the petition to compile the list of individuals interested in purchasing our book.
If you sign up, when the book is nearing completion, we'll contact you so you can cancel, complete, or add to your book order.
Thanks for your support!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Gatorade Aid
The house I've been working on is located in the heart of an area called Forrest Hills, which is an unincorporated section of Nashville between Brentwood and Belle Meade. The problem with working here is that it is very suburban, and my food options are limited. If I want something from one of the standard fast food joints, I have to drive 10 minutes to Brentwood or Green Hills. The only place closer is a gas station on Granny White. Often times that's where I (along with all the other manual-laborers) end up during lunch time.
I was in line at the gas station today and the kid in front of me was having some difficulty buying a Gatorade at the register. He was trying to use a debit/credit card of some kind and it kept coming back with insufficient funds. I could tell the kid was embarrassed, but the guy behind the counter didn't seem to care; he wasn't being the slightest bit discrete about the declination.
It became apparent that the kid had no other means for purchasing the Gatorade and that the cashier was prepared to prolong his humiliation as long as possible. So, that's when I stepped in and offered to pay for the kid's drink along with my food. I gave the kid a kind of I know how it feels look, and the cashier a you should know better glare.
This was the first time I felt uncomfortable trying to build kindness, and I blame the gas station employee. I don't think anyone likes being in that type of situation, but it didn't have to be as awkward as it was. All this does is reiterate the need for more examples of kindness in the world.
I was in line at the gas station today and the kid in front of me was having some difficulty buying a Gatorade at the register. He was trying to use a debit/credit card of some kind and it kept coming back with insufficient funds. I could tell the kid was embarrassed, but the guy behind the counter didn't seem to care; he wasn't being the slightest bit discrete about the declination.
It became apparent that the kid had no other means for purchasing the Gatorade and that the cashier was prepared to prolong his humiliation as long as possible. So, that's when I stepped in and offered to pay for the kid's drink along with my food. I gave the kid a kind of I know how it feels look, and the cashier a you should know better glare.
This was the first time I felt uncomfortable trying to build kindness, and I blame the gas station employee. I don't think anyone likes being in that type of situation, but it didn't have to be as awkward as it was. All this does is reiterate the need for more examples of kindness in the world.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Vacuums Suck
I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but I've started gearing my acts of building kindness more toward strangers. I like doing things for everyone, including my friends and family, but it seems best for the mission to spread the kindness out as far as I can take it.
This weekend I went to a self service car wash here in Bellevue to clean out my truck. I had just finished vacuuming the inside when I overheard the lady on the other side of the vacuum complaining to her daughter that the machine had taken her money and wasn't working. It's not very often that an opportunity to build kindness falls into my lap like that, so couldn't help but offer assistance.
Even though I had overheard her talking to her daughter, I played it cool and asked her is she was having trouble with her side of the vacuum. She confirmed, so I pointed out that my side was working well, and that I would be happy to give her 75 cents since she had already spend her money on the broken side. She said thank you for giving up the vacuum, but denied my offer to reimburse her money. I was going to let it pass, but then I noticed her digging through her purse to find a dollar to break at the change machine. I reiterated my offer and, told her that I wouldn't take no for an answer. To prove my persistence I went ahead and put my change in the machine and handed her the hose to the running vacuum. She laughed and said thank you again.
I thought about giving her one of the blog cards, but decided not to unless she said something to me again. The way it worked out, I finished everything I needed to do before she was done vacuuming, so we never got the opportunity to talk a second time. When I look back, I'm happy with the way it played out. I like the idea of people who have never met me coming to the blog and reading about my exploits, but the idea of handing someone a card out of the blue like that seems a little creepy. I could see her being like... "What does he do, hang out at the car wash all day waiting for someone to need help?"
What do you think I should have done? Card or no card?
This weekend I went to a self service car wash here in Bellevue to clean out my truck. I had just finished vacuuming the inside when I overheard the lady on the other side of the vacuum complaining to her daughter that the machine had taken her money and wasn't working. It's not very often that an opportunity to build kindness falls into my lap like that, so couldn't help but offer assistance.
Even though I had overheard her talking to her daughter, I played it cool and asked her is she was having trouble with her side of the vacuum. She confirmed, so I pointed out that my side was working well, and that I would be happy to give her 75 cents since she had already spend her money on the broken side. She said thank you for giving up the vacuum, but denied my offer to reimburse her money. I was going to let it pass, but then I noticed her digging through her purse to find a dollar to break at the change machine. I reiterated my offer and, told her that I wouldn't take no for an answer. To prove my persistence I went ahead and put my change in the machine and handed her the hose to the running vacuum. She laughed and said thank you again.
I thought about giving her one of the blog cards, but decided not to unless she said something to me again. The way it worked out, I finished everything I needed to do before she was done vacuuming, so we never got the opportunity to talk a second time. When I look back, I'm happy with the way it played out. I like the idea of people who have never met me coming to the blog and reading about my exploits, but the idea of handing someone a card out of the blue like that seems a little creepy. I could see her being like... "What does he do, hang out at the car wash all day waiting for someone to need help?"
What do you think I should have done? Card or no card?
Monday, March 29, 2010
First-Class Kindness
I went to the post office today to mail a bill and a great building kindness idea came to me.
It used to be that there was a contraption out front where you could insert some change to buy single stamps, but apparently coins are archaic, and that machine has been replaced with a newer model that reads debit/credit cards. The only problem is you can't buy just one stamp. The smallest denomination available is 18 stamps for just under $8. If you want to buy fewer than 18 stamps, you have to wait in line for a postman. I don't know if it was the time of day I went, or if the place is always packed like that, but the line to the counter was long. So, I did what any normal American would do in the situation... I chalked one up for convenience and bought way more than I needed.
This was when the idea came to me...
I figured that there are probably several people each day that only need one stamp, so I went out to my truck and cut three stamps from my sheet of 18. I got out three Build Kindness cards, and using some handy painters tape, I attached one stamp to the back of each card. Beside the stamps I wrote "first-class kindness" on each of the cards. I took the postage-loaded cards inside and left one on each of the package prep tables in the post office.
How many opportunities to build kindness do you pass up each day? It cost me less than $1.50 to help three people today. Can you think of other ways for using an overabundance of something to benefit others? I'd love to hear what you come up with!
It used to be that there was a contraption out front where you could insert some change to buy single stamps, but apparently coins are archaic, and that machine has been replaced with a newer model that reads debit/credit cards. The only problem is you can't buy just one stamp. The smallest denomination available is 18 stamps for just under $8. If you want to buy fewer than 18 stamps, you have to wait in line for a postman. I don't know if it was the time of day I went, or if the place is always packed like that, but the line to the counter was long. So, I did what any normal American would do in the situation... I chalked one up for convenience and bought way more than I needed.
This was when the idea came to me...
I figured that there are probably several people each day that only need one stamp, so I went out to my truck and cut three stamps from my sheet of 18. I got out three Build Kindness cards, and using some handy painters tape, I attached one stamp to the back of each card. Beside the stamps I wrote "first-class kindness" on each of the cards. I took the postage-loaded cards inside and left one on each of the package prep tables in the post office.
How many opportunities to build kindness do you pass up each day? It cost me less than $1.50 to help three people today. Can you think of other ways for using an overabundance of something to benefit others? I'd love to hear what you come up with!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Kindness Sunday
To all the sporty folks out there... remember when the greatest reward for a game well played was ice cream or cokes with the team. In Fairview, Sonic was the consummate favorite for post game shenanigans. At the time, I thought we always went there because that's where we (the kids) wanted to go. We knew Sonic for its ice cream treats and soft drink variety... but now that I'm older, I am starting to see Sonic more from the the parents' prospective. Yes, the place has great eats and treats, but Sonic has tons of post athletics logistical advantages too.
Just think about it. You've got a double digit group of dirty, loud, excited little kids. Do you want to take them to O'Charley's?! No, you want to go somewhere that's outside, informal and caters to the hyper. You want to take them to Sonic. At Sonic parents don't need to worry about changing their kids out of their cleats and uniforms. When the little brats start reliving the game's most exciting plays in full volume and real time speed, parents can confidently step back and allow them their moments of glory.
I'm thinking about Sonic because... well, that's what highly intelligent Middle Tennesseans do when the weather makes an upward turn for Spring and softball season is on the horizon. I have a lot of good memories from my times at Sonic. Even as twenty-something adults, it remains a post game ritual for a group of us go to the Sonic near the softball fields in Franklin for drinks, food and the quintessential Sonic Blast.
Since I like Sonic so much, why no share the love? The picture you see below I taped $2.25 to one of my Build Kindness cards. I thought that it would be neat if I left the card randomly on one of the menu boards. I put it out on Friday, and I know for sure that is was still there Saturday. I didn't check on it again until Thursday, and it was gone. So, success... I think. Someone got it, I just don't know how, when or what they did with it. It would be intriguing to know the circumstances behind the discovery, but I'm not crossing my fingers. Instead, I'd be interested to hear your feedback. What would you think if you found this card? What would you do with the money? Would you go to the blog?
Just think about it. You've got a double digit group of dirty, loud, excited little kids. Do you want to take them to O'Charley's?! No, you want to go somewhere that's outside, informal and caters to the hyper. You want to take them to Sonic. At Sonic parents don't need to worry about changing their kids out of their cleats and uniforms. When the little brats start reliving the game's most exciting plays in full volume and real time speed, parents can confidently step back and allow them their moments of glory.
I'm thinking about Sonic because... well, that's what highly intelligent Middle Tennesseans do when the weather makes an upward turn for Spring and softball season is on the horizon. I have a lot of good memories from my times at Sonic. Even as twenty-something adults, it remains a post game ritual for a group of us go to the Sonic near the softball fields in Franklin for drinks, food and the quintessential Sonic Blast.
Since I like Sonic so much, why no share the love? The picture you see below I taped $2.25 to one of my Build Kindness cards. I thought that it would be neat if I left the card randomly on one of the menu boards. I put it out on Friday, and I know for sure that is was still there Saturday. I didn't check on it again until Thursday, and it was gone. So, success... I think. Someone got it, I just don't know how, when or what they did with it. It would be intriguing to know the circumstances behind the discovery, but I'm not crossing my fingers. Instead, I'd be interested to hear your feedback. What would you think if you found this card? What would you do with the money? Would you go to the blog?
That's What He Said
Yesterday I discovered something about my blog. It may be giving some people the wrong impression.
Jeff's girlfriend (Scheibe's sister) asked me a while back to put up curtains in her new apartment. This was well before I thought about starting "building kindness." I told her that I would do it... yet here it is, several months down the road and I still haven't been over there.
I figured there's no time like the present, so I wanted to schedule it for this week. I also thought it would be good to get Jeff to assist me. Having been with the same woman for over eight years now, I understand how important it is to do nice things for your significant other. I wouldn't really need him to hang the curtains, but if he helped then he could take the credit for getting it done. Also, it might empower him to do similar things in the future... kind of like the old Chinese proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
I called Jeff and asked him if there was a time this week he'd be free to help and his response was, "You're just doing this for your blog." It hurt my feelings at first, but I can see how he might have thought this. Most people probably define an act of kindness as something you do completely for someone else. Doing something for someone so that it will reflect positively on you is not a random act of kindness. Jeff was obviously thinking I'm doing the blog as extension of the latter.
Have you ever seen one of those large, ornate sand mandalas the Tibetan monks create? Probably not. The reason you've probability never seen one is because after the monks spend weeks creating this amazing work of art, they destroy it. Why? What's the point? They say the doing, the act, is the point... not the gratification from the oohs and ahhs.
I agree with the monks. It is the action that causes the change and that's where the benefit comes from. But who or what are the monks trying to improve? The answer: themselves. It is so true, whenever I do something for someone, it’s like a bright light that forms inward and works its way through every part of me. It hits my emotions, my perceptions, my actions and even my physical body. Each act betters me... but building kindness isn't just about me.
I considered doing my acts randomly and anonymously, but concluded that I wanted to experiment with something new. Random acts obviously spread good (refer to this post for an example), but how far will it go? A random act influences me and the person it is directed toward, but then what? You can hope for the pay it forward desire to kick in (there are definitely great stories of amazing things happening this way), but how sustainable is that?
The concept of Building Kindness is different. It is continuous. If witnessing a single act of kindness inspires someone to do a single act in return, what would witnessing continuous acts of kindness do? What is the value of drawing people into a community of kindness? I don't have an answer to these questions, but I hope to find out and the blog is my lab.
The problem remains: How do I keep people from perceiving my blog as an attempt to glorify myself? Maybe the first step would be to get them to read it. Another thing I need to do is be more careful about the acts I choose and who I discuss them with outside the blog. If every time I see a friend I mention my blog... of course it would seem like I'm tooting my own horn.
I'm glad Jeff said what he said. It has been thought provoking, and ultimately, it has given me a better understand of my own mission. Thanks for being honest and genuine with me Jeff!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Keep Your Eye on the Ball/Bird
I've been building kindness daily for nearly a month now, and some days I'm really in the zone! I wake up thinking kindness, I work looking forward to kindness, I do kindness, I blog about kindness, and then I go to sleep and dream about kindness (the dream part is an exaggeration).
Unfortunately, not everyday is this concentrated on kindness. Thursday for example, kindness crossed my mind several times, but it was gone just about as quickly as it appeared. The video below is a good metaphor for how my mind treats thoughts about kindness on some days. In the clip, the bird is a thought about kindness. The baseball is another thought that is... apparently more important.
See how fast the bird disappears? I know, I'm terrible.
But if I'm being honest, this is a lot like how last Thursday was for me. I went all day and hadn't come up with anything to do... not because I had kindness-block, but because I just didn't think about it. Luckily, Arby's had me covered. Jen and I went to Arby's (bc we had a coupon and that place is pricey) for dinner and the girl ringing us up asked if we'd like to donate a dollar to the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. POW! Instant roll reversal- all my other thoughts immediately became the bird. I quickly responded yes and whipped out an extra buck.
Jen was like, "huh?" and I explained that I hadn't done anything to build kindness today. She laughed her cute little laugh and wrote my name on one of the pieces of paper they use to show off everyone who's donated. Now that I'm letting people read my blog, maybe I'll donate another dollar at Arby's and write BuildKindess.com instead of my name.
Unfortunately, not everyday is this concentrated on kindness. Thursday for example, kindness crossed my mind several times, but it was gone just about as quickly as it appeared. The video below is a good metaphor for how my mind treats thoughts about kindness on some days. In the clip, the bird is a thought about kindness. The baseball is another thought that is... apparently more important.
See how fast the bird disappears? I know, I'm terrible.
But if I'm being honest, this is a lot like how last Thursday was for me. I went all day and hadn't come up with anything to do... not because I had kindness-block, but because I just didn't think about it. Luckily, Arby's had me covered. Jen and I went to Arby's (bc we had a coupon and that place is pricey) for dinner and the girl ringing us up asked if we'd like to donate a dollar to the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. POW! Instant roll reversal- all my other thoughts immediately became the bird. I quickly responded yes and whipped out an extra buck.
Jen was like, "huh?" and I explained that I hadn't done anything to build kindness today. She laughed her cute little laugh and wrote my name on one of the pieces of paper they use to show off everyone who's donated. Now that I'm letting people read my blog, maybe I'll donate another dollar at Arby's and write BuildKindess.com instead of my name.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wii Little Mistake
Have you noticed the one-day-impulse-buy phenomenon sweeping the internet? Basically, online retailers are putting single items on sale for the limited time of one day. It's good for the consumers, because they get great deals on things, and it's good for the retailers because they're moving a lot of product and driving traffic to their sites daily.
Woot.com is the originator of this idea. Being the first, they really raked in the dough for a while. But now that there are so many deal-a-day sites, they're starting to lose some followers. To counter this, woot has added a new extension to their original site, sellout.woot.com. The main purpose of sellout.woot is to let other deal sites piggyback off of woots success. It's pretty smart if you think about it. They are going to lose market share no matter what, so at least this way they get paid something when people go to the other sites.
The other day I saw an amazing deal for a rechargeable Wii remote station. It was such a good price, I bought it for my parents. Wednesday it arrived in the mail, so I packed it up and took it to give to them as my act to build kindness for the day. Unfortunately... I left it in the car. It wasn't until Jen and I were headed back home that I remembered the Wii station.
So... today was my first mess-up with the build kindness thing. Sorry Mom and Dad... it's at your house now.
Look at all the major sites doing daily deals now thanks to woot's idea:
Woot.com is the originator of this idea. Being the first, they really raked in the dough for a while. But now that there are so many deal-a-day sites, they're starting to lose some followers. To counter this, woot has added a new extension to their original site, sellout.woot.com. The main purpose of sellout.woot is to let other deal sites piggyback off of woots success. It's pretty smart if you think about it. They are going to lose market share no matter what, so at least this way they get paid something when people go to the other sites.
The other day I saw an amazing deal for a rechargeable Wii remote station. It was such a good price, I bought it for my parents. Wednesday it arrived in the mail, so I packed it up and took it to give to them as my act to build kindness for the day. Unfortunately... I left it in the car. It wasn't until Jen and I were headed back home that I remembered the Wii station.
So... today was my first mess-up with the build kindness thing. Sorry Mom and Dad... it's at your house now.
- Amazon
- Dell
- eBay
- Wal-Mart
- New Balance
- and my personal favorite... Air Guns Daily
- there are even sites set up to help you make your own daily deal web store... Deal of the Day Shop Solutions
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Rustoleum Angels in the Yard
Didn't I just say something in a post about Jana being a messy painter? Well, if you were looking for another reason to parallel the twins, here it is:
This is a photo of their front yard. As you can see, they live in the ghetto. Also, it's obvious that there has been some messy painting going on. This time however... the culprit was Kelsey.
She wasn't tagging her yard. Actually, she was being crafty and used spray paint to jazz up some picture frames. If you're asking yourself, "Why in the front yard for everyone to see?" The answer is... because she already tried it on the kitchen counters, and the result wasn't something that would grow back!
Dun Da Da Dun! Here comes Build Kindness to save the day. Kelsey told me about her predicament and how she couldn't get the paint off her counters. Regular cleaning supplies weren't doing the trick and she was afraid to use something more acidic for fear of making the problem worse. Luckily, I knew of a product at home depot specially formulated for removing paint from laminate.
So Tuesday, while I was at home depot getting supplies for a project I'm working on, I also picked up an 8 ounce tin of Goo Gone. That night when Jen and I had dinner with the twins and Schiebe at Pei Wei, I gave it to them. If we're lucky, maybe Kelsey will be kind enough to add some first hand commentary on her experience.
This is a photo of their front yard. As you can see, they live in the ghetto. Also, it's obvious that there has been some messy painting going on. This time however... the culprit was Kelsey.
She wasn't tagging her yard. Actually, she was being crafty and used spray paint to jazz up some picture frames. If you're asking yourself, "Why in the front yard for everyone to see?" The answer is... because she already tried it on the kitchen counters, and the result wasn't something that would grow back!
Dun Da Da Dun! Here comes Build Kindness to save the day. Kelsey told me about her predicament and how she couldn't get the paint off her counters. Regular cleaning supplies weren't doing the trick and she was afraid to use something more acidic for fear of making the problem worse. Luckily, I knew of a product at home depot specially formulated for removing paint from laminate.
So Tuesday, while I was at home depot getting supplies for a project I'm working on, I also picked up an 8 ounce tin of Goo Gone. That night when Jen and I had dinner with the twins and Schiebe at Pei Wei, I gave it to them. If we're lucky, maybe Kelsey will be kind enough to add some first hand commentary on her experience.
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