A few weeks ago, I came across a very cool blog post that can be found here. The gist is that Robyn decided that she wanted to spend her birthday completing one random act of kindness for every year of her life thus far. She got such an overwhelming response on her blog that she launched an entire campaign called "The Birthday Project." Basically, The Birthday Project wants to change the way people think about their birthday (or other life milestone), and use it as a super cool way to love people. Needless to say, it is a STELLAR idea! So I decided to do this for my 26th birthday.
Normally, my birthday falls on Labor Day weekend (and this year it was on a Sunday to boot), so it was impossible to do all 26 things on my list just on my birthday as many businesses were closed. So I got to spread a little of it out across Friday - Tuesday, thus transforming it into a wonderful birthday weekend adventure! I got many of my ideas from The Birthday Project, but tried to add some unique ones of my own based on my own community. My good friend Hannah joined me on Sunday to help me out. Here is the list of what we did:
1. Bought Gunner a new collar from Farm Supply.
2. While at Farm Supply, bought a $25 gift card. When the cashier asked who it was for, I told her that I wanted her to keep it and give it to a customer who she thought would appreciate it. She was totally caught off guard and was super overwhelmed by the gesture. It was a super cool moment.
3. Made pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies for my employees (their all-time favorite and most frequent request from me).
4. Left horse treats in the tack rooms for the Cal Poly Equestrian Team and Cal Poly Dressage Team (this is actually a big deal, because I never give treats to my horses, and frequently chastise the team members for pampering their ponies).
5. There are a lot of hikers and bikers that come by my house on the weekends, so I bought some bottled water and left it out for them to take. Some of them even left thank you notes on my sign!
6. Took banana bread and cookies and a thank-you card to the staff at the Sierra Vista Emergency Room in appreciation of taking care of the many students (and myself with a certain ankle injury) that I send there from the equine center every quarter.
7. Delivered a load of clothes to the local Goodwill.
8. Left encouraging notes on cars downtown (this one says "Happy Sunday!).
9. Fed parking meters downtown. This one was my personal favorite of the day. As I was filling some meters that had expired, two surfer dudes pulled up into an empty spot. I asked them if I could take care of their meter for them. They were obviously a little sketched out, but the driver answered "Sure.......?". Their skepticism of the situation continued as I figured out how much time they wanted, etc. Finally, the driver looks around him and says "So.... are we like in a Progressive commercial or something??". I literally laughed out loud. Once I explained what I was doing, he got super stoked about the idea.
10. Made "Super" homeless bags and gave them out to to the homeless downtown. I always have these in my car (just a paper grocery bag with some non-perishable food items, an encouraging letter, some socks, toothpaste, etc.), but I made these ones "Super" by adding wet wipes, extra socks, lots of soap, etc. There was one young couple in particular that was very grateful to receive this and I got to have some cool conversation with them :)
11. Bought several Sunday papers out of a curbside machine and left them on top with a note to "Enjoy a random act of kindness on me!" in front of a popular cafe.
12. Bought several $5 gift cards from Barnes and Noble and left them (along with notes) hidden in some of my favorite books in the store for customers to find.
13. Delivered a thank-you note, banana bread, and cookies to the fire station (this actually took a few tries; they kept having to leave to fight fires/help the public, so we kept missing them!).
14. Delivered a thank-you note, banana bread, and cookies to the Cal Poly Campus Police (this one was probably the BIGGEST act of kindness, as they have given me quite a few tickets for parking and talking on my cell phone while I have been here).
15. Gave blood.
16. Purchased a bunch of school supplies and donated them to a local school for children in need.
17. Took coloring books, crayons, and games to the waiting room at the local hospital to occupy children.
18. Sent a hand-written thank-you note (the old fashioned way!) to someone who has made a real difference in my life.
19. Donated supplies to the local pet shelter.
20. Taped quarters to the vending machines in the hospital cafeteria.
21. Took Sydney, my little beagle, to visit residents at the local retirement home (we got to hear a LOT of stories from sweet old men about how they used to go hunting with their beagles when they were boys; it was so sweet!).
22. Left a 100% tip for our server at lunch (she deserved it!).
23. Left surfboard wax with little notes on the cars of the local surfers at one of my fave surf spots in Pismo.
24. Thank-you notes for the ladies who are secretaries in the Animal Science office.
25. Left a case of diapers and an encouraging note about being a wonderful mom on the changing table in the Target bathroom.
26. Bought coffee for the person in line behind me at Peet's. They were super overwhelmed by a random act of kindness, and were incredibly grateful.
Bottom line: this was amazing. Its crazy to think how one little RAK can change someone's whole day! I would encourage you to use your birthday as an opportunity to show your community a little more love :)
TTFN!
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