WELCOME!
Welcome to the Kindness Movement! We hope you find in these pages
a wealth of ideas to help you encourage and promote Random Acts of
Kindness (RAK) in your community! Whether you choose to implement
these particular ideas or allow them to stimulate ideas of your own, we
hope that your brainstorming and planning is both exciting and inspiring
for you.
We call our volunteers Kindness Coordinators, and they come from all
walks of life, ages, and professions. We hope you will decide to join
our tens of thousands of participants and become a Kindness
Coordinator in your area. Everything you do to share and promote
kindness helps make the world a better place.
Please use our website to print our free resources. This Activity Ideas
for Communities provides a wealth of kindness ideas to help you get
started. Our Project Planning Guide offers tips for planning and
implementing projects both small and large. If you are an educator, our
Teacher’s Guide (on our education webpage) will help you encourage
kindness in your classroom and contains hundreds of ideas. In addition,
using our Publicity Guide will allow your efforts to receive the media
attention they deserve. We all need to read good news in our daily
paper, and you can provide some of it!
All of the above guides are on our website at www.actsofkindness.org.
While you’re there, check out our free lesson plans, project plans,
inspiration, and other resources!
Please let us know how you use the ideas in this booklet. Learning
which ideas are implemented in different communities helps us improve
our resources, so please tell us about your kindness activity or project.
When you share with us your project description and reflections about
that project, you are helping people around the globe!
We encourage you to use the handy webpage templates on our website
and create your own kindness webpages! You can announce to others
what kindness activities you have done, share photos, and make
connections with other organizations who have already posted their
kindness webpages with us — all free of charge.
The staff of The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is available to
you for consultation and support. Our contact information is below,
and we hope that you will take the initiative to stay in touch with us.
Your friends at The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
Website: www.actsofkindness.org
Email: info@actsofkindness.org
RAK CELEBRATION DATES
2008
Random Acts of Kindness Week Feb. 11-17
World Kindness Week Nov. 10-16
World Kindness Day Nov. 13
Feel free to adapt the RAK Week dates to your own community. You
are welcome to celebrate RAK Week or RAK Month any time of the
year — or all year long! We support participants with ideas and
materials on our website throughout the year.
Also, please keep us informed about your kindness activities. We are a
clearinghouse for ideas, and your sharing of ideas will help thousands
of others encourage kindness in their communities.
100 IDEAS FOR KINDNESS
1. Deliver fresh-baked cookies to city workers.
2. Collect goods for a food bank.
3. Bring flowers to work and share them with coworkers.
4. Garden clubs can make floral arrangements for senior centers,
nursing homes, hospitals, police stations, or shut-ins.
5. Adopt a student who needs a friend, checking in periodically to
see how things are going.
6. Volunteer to be a tutor in a school.
7. Extend a hand to someone in need. Give your full attention and
simply listen.
8. Merchants can donate a percentage of receipts for the week to
a special cause.
9. Bring coworkers a special treat.
10. Students can clean classrooms for the custodian.
11. Buy a stranger a free pizza.
12. Distribute lollipops to kids.
13. Sing at a nursing home.
14. Offer a couple of hours of baby-sitting to parents. 15. Slip
paper hearts that say “It’s Random Acts of Kindness Week! Have
a great day!” under the windshield wipers of parked cars.
16. Have a charity day at work, with employees bringing
nonperishable food items to donate.
17. Serve refreshments to customers.
18. Draw names at school or work, and have people bring a small
gift or food treat for their secret pal.
19. Remember the bereaved with phone calls, cards, plants, and
food.
20. Treat someone to fresh fruit.
21. Pay a compliment at least once a day.
22. Call or visit a homebound person.
23. Hand out balloons to passersby.
24. Give free sodas to motorists.
25. Be a good neighbor. Take over a baked treat or stop by to say
“Hello.”
26. Transport someone who can’t drive.
27. Mow a neighbor’s grass.
28. Say something nice to everyone you meet today.
29. Send a treat to a school or day-care center.
30. Volunteer at an agency that needs help.
31. Wipe rainwater off shopping carts or hold umbrellas for
shoppers on the way to their cars.
32. Give the gift of your smile.
33. Send home a note telling parents something their child did
well.
34. Adopt a homeless pet at the humane society.
35. Organize a scout troop or service club to help people with
packages at the mall or grocery.
36. Host special programs or speakers at libraries or bookstores.
37. Offer to answer the phone for the school secretary for ten
minutes.
38. Volunteer to read to students in the classroom.
39. Write notes of appreciation and bring flowers or goodies to
teachers or other important people, such as the principal, nurse,
custodian, and secretary.
40. Incorporate kindness into the curriculum at area schools, day
care centers, or children’s classes in faith organizations.
41. Give a hug to a friend.
42. Tell your children why you love them.
43. Write a note to your mother/father and tell them why they
are special.
44. Pat someone on the back.
45. Write a thank-you note to a mentor or someone who has
influenced your life in a positive way.
46. Give coffee to people on their way to work in the morning.
47. Donate time at a senior center.
48. Give blood.
49. Visit hospitals with smiles, treats, and friendly conversation
for patients.
50. Stop by a nursing home, and visit a resident with no family
nearby.
51. Plant flowers in your neighbor’s flower box.
52. Give another driver your parking spot.
53. Leave a treat or handmade note of thanks for a delivery
person or mail carrier.
54. Give free car washes.
55. Clean graffiti from neighborhood walls and buildings.
56. Tell your boss that you think he/she does a good job.
57. Tell your employees how much you appreciate their work.
58. Let your staff leave work an hour early.
59. Have a clean-up party in the park.
60. Tell a bus or taxi driver how much you appreciate their driving.
61. Have everyone in your office draw the name of a Random Acts
of Kindness buddy out of a hat and do a kind act for their buddy
that day or week.
62. Give a pair of tickets to a baseball game or concert to a
stranger.
63. Leave an extra big tip for the waitperson.
64. Drop off a plant, cookies, or donuts to the police or fire
department.
65. Open the door for another person.
66. Pay for the meal of the person behind you in the drive-
through.
67. Write a note to the boss of someone who has helped you,
praising the employee.
68. Leave a bouquet of flowers on the desk of a colleague at work
with whom you don’t normally get along.
69. Call an estranged family member.
70. Volunteer to fix up an elderly couple’s home.
71. Pay for the person behind you in the movie line.
72. Give flowers to be delivered with meal delivery programs.
73. Give toys to the children at the shelter or safe house.
74. Give friends and family kindness coupons they can redeem for
kind favors.
75. Be a friend to a new student or coworker.
76. Renew an old friendship by sending a letter or small gift to
someone you haven’t talked with in a long time.
77. For one week, act on every single thought of generosity that
arises spontaneously in your heart, and notice what happens as a
consequence.
78. Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone
loading a car.
79. Invite someone new over for dinner.
80. Buy a roll of brightly colored stickers and give them to
children you meet during the day.
81. Write a card of thanks and leave it with your tip. Be sure to
be specific in your thanks.
82. Let the person behind you in the grocery store go ahead of
you in line.
83. When drivers try to merge into your lane, let them in with a
wave and a smile.
84. Buy cold drinks for the people next to you at a ball game.
85. Distribute kindness bookmarks that you have made.
86. Create a craft project or build a bird house with a child.
87. Give a bag of groceries to a homeless person.
88. Laugh out loud often and share your smile generously.
89. Plant a tree in your neighborhood.
90. Make a list of things to do to bring more kindness into the
world, and have a friend make a list. Exchange lists and do one
item per day for a month.
91. Use an instant camera to take people’s photographs at a party
or community event, and give the picture to them.
92. As you go about your day, pick up trash.
93. Send a letter to some former teachers, letting them know the
difference they made in your life.
94. Send a gift anonymously to a friend.
95. Organize a clothing drive for a shelter.
96. Buy books for a day care or school.
97. Slip a $20 bill to a person who you know is having financial
difficulty.
98. Take an acquaintance to dinner.
99. Offer to take a friend’s child to ball practice.
100. Waive late fees for the week.
Welcome to the Kindness Movement! We hope you find in these pages
a wealth of ideas to help you encourage and promote Random Acts of
Kindness (RAK) in your community! Whether you choose to implement
these particular ideas or allow them to stimulate ideas of your own, we
hope that your brainstorming and planning is both exciting and inspiring
for you.
We call our volunteers Kindness Coordinators, and they come from all
walks of life, ages, and professions. We hope you will decide to join
our tens of thousands of participants and become a Kindness
Coordinator in your area. Everything you do to share and promote
kindness helps make the world a better place.
Please use our website to print our free resources. This Activity Ideas
for Communities provides a wealth of kindness ideas to help you get
started. Our Project Planning Guide offers tips for planning and
implementing projects both small and large. If you are an educator, our
Teacher’s Guide (on our education webpage) will help you encourage
kindness in your classroom and contains hundreds of ideas. In addition,
using our Publicity Guide will allow your efforts to receive the media
attention they deserve. We all need to read good news in our daily
paper, and you can provide some of it!
All of the above guides are on our website at www.actsofkindness.org.
While you’re there, check out our free lesson plans, project plans,
inspiration, and other resources!
Please let us know how you use the ideas in this booklet. Learning
which ideas are implemented in different communities helps us improve
our resources, so please tell us about your kindness activity or project.
When you share with us your project description and reflections about
that project, you are helping people around the globe!
We encourage you to use the handy webpage templates on our website
and create your own kindness webpages! You can announce to others
what kindness activities you have done, share photos, and make
connections with other organizations who have already posted their
kindness webpages with us — all free of charge.
The staff of The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is available to
you for consultation and support. Our contact information is below,
and we hope that you will take the initiative to stay in touch with us.
Your friends at The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
Website: www.actsofkindness.org
Email: info@actsofkindness.org
RAK CELEBRATION DATES
2008
Random Acts of Kindness Week Feb. 11-17
World Kindness Week Nov. 10-16
World Kindness Day Nov. 13
Feel free to adapt the RAK Week dates to your own community. You
are welcome to celebrate RAK Week or RAK Month any time of the
year — or all year long! We support participants with ideas and
materials on our website throughout the year.
Also, please keep us informed about your kindness activities. We are a
clearinghouse for ideas, and your sharing of ideas will help thousands
of others encourage kindness in their communities.
100 IDEAS FOR KINDNESS
1. Deliver fresh-baked cookies to city workers.
2. Collect goods for a food bank.
3. Bring flowers to work and share them with coworkers.
4. Garden clubs can make floral arrangements for senior centers,
nursing homes, hospitals, police stations, or shut-ins.
5. Adopt a student who needs a friend, checking in periodically to
see how things are going.
6. Volunteer to be a tutor in a school.
7. Extend a hand to someone in need. Give your full attention and
simply listen.
8. Merchants can donate a percentage of receipts for the week to
a special cause.
9. Bring coworkers a special treat.
10. Students can clean classrooms for the custodian.
11. Buy a stranger a free pizza.
12. Distribute lollipops to kids.
13. Sing at a nursing home.
14. Offer a couple of hours of baby-sitting to parents. 15. Slip
paper hearts that say “It’s Random Acts of Kindness Week! Have
a great day!” under the windshield wipers of parked cars.
16. Have a charity day at work, with employees bringing
nonperishable food items to donate.
17. Serve refreshments to customers.
18. Draw names at school or work, and have people bring a small
gift or food treat for their secret pal.
19. Remember the bereaved with phone calls, cards, plants, and
food.
20. Treat someone to fresh fruit.
21. Pay a compliment at least once a day.
22. Call or visit a homebound person.
23. Hand out balloons to passersby.
24. Give free sodas to motorists.
25. Be a good neighbor. Take over a baked treat or stop by to say
“Hello.”
26. Transport someone who can’t drive.
27. Mow a neighbor’s grass.
28. Say something nice to everyone you meet today.
29. Send a treat to a school or day-care center.
30. Volunteer at an agency that needs help.
31. Wipe rainwater off shopping carts or hold umbrellas for
shoppers on the way to their cars.
32. Give the gift of your smile.
33. Send home a note telling parents something their child did
well.
34. Adopt a homeless pet at the humane society.
35. Organize a scout troop or service club to help people with
packages at the mall or grocery.
36. Host special programs or speakers at libraries or bookstores.
37. Offer to answer the phone for the school secretary for ten
minutes.
38. Volunteer to read to students in the classroom.
39. Write notes of appreciation and bring flowers or goodies to
teachers or other important people, such as the principal, nurse,
custodian, and secretary.
40. Incorporate kindness into the curriculum at area schools, day
care centers, or children’s classes in faith organizations.
41. Give a hug to a friend.
42. Tell your children why you love them.
43. Write a note to your mother/father and tell them why they
are special.
44. Pat someone on the back.
45. Write a thank-you note to a mentor or someone who has
influenced your life in a positive way.
46. Give coffee to people on their way to work in the morning.
47. Donate time at a senior center.
48. Give blood.
49. Visit hospitals with smiles, treats, and friendly conversation
for patients.
50. Stop by a nursing home, and visit a resident with no family
nearby.
51. Plant flowers in your neighbor’s flower box.
52. Give another driver your parking spot.
53. Leave a treat or handmade note of thanks for a delivery
person or mail carrier.
54. Give free car washes.
55. Clean graffiti from neighborhood walls and buildings.
56. Tell your boss that you think he/she does a good job.
57. Tell your employees how much you appreciate their work.
58. Let your staff leave work an hour early.
59. Have a clean-up party in the park.
60. Tell a bus or taxi driver how much you appreciate their driving.
61. Have everyone in your office draw the name of a Random Acts
of Kindness buddy out of a hat and do a kind act for their buddy
that day or week.
62. Give a pair of tickets to a baseball game or concert to a
stranger.
63. Leave an extra big tip for the waitperson.
64. Drop off a plant, cookies, or donuts to the police or fire
department.
65. Open the door for another person.
66. Pay for the meal of the person behind you in the drive-
through.
67. Write a note to the boss of someone who has helped you,
praising the employee.
68. Leave a bouquet of flowers on the desk of a colleague at work
with whom you don’t normally get along.
69. Call an estranged family member.
70. Volunteer to fix up an elderly couple’s home.
71. Pay for the person behind you in the movie line.
72. Give flowers to be delivered with meal delivery programs.
73. Give toys to the children at the shelter or safe house.
74. Give friends and family kindness coupons they can redeem for
kind favors.
75. Be a friend to a new student or coworker.
76. Renew an old friendship by sending a letter or small gift to
someone you haven’t talked with in a long time.
77. For one week, act on every single thought of generosity that
arises spontaneously in your heart, and notice what happens as a
consequence.
78. Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone
loading a car.
79. Invite someone new over for dinner.
80. Buy a roll of brightly colored stickers and give them to
children you meet during the day.
81. Write a card of thanks and leave it with your tip. Be sure to
be specific in your thanks.
82. Let the person behind you in the grocery store go ahead of
you in line.
83. When drivers try to merge into your lane, let them in with a
wave and a smile.
84. Buy cold drinks for the people next to you at a ball game.
85. Distribute kindness bookmarks that you have made.
86. Create a craft project or build a bird house with a child.
87. Give a bag of groceries to a homeless person.
88. Laugh out loud often and share your smile generously.
89. Plant a tree in your neighborhood.
90. Make a list of things to do to bring more kindness into the
world, and have a friend make a list. Exchange lists and do one
item per day for a month.
91. Use an instant camera to take people’s photographs at a party
or community event, and give the picture to them.
92. As you go about your day, pick up trash.
93. Send a letter to some former teachers, letting them know the
difference they made in your life.
94. Send a gift anonymously to a friend.
95. Organize a clothing drive for a shelter.
96. Buy books for a day care or school.
97. Slip a $20 bill to a person who you know is having financial
difficulty.
98. Take an acquaintance to dinner.
99. Offer to take a friend’s child to ball practice.
100. Waive late fees for the week.
Program is for all of our student council & 4-H
.... Additional reminders....
Any or All KEY members can donate to the following Group Service Projects if they choose to. Our
4-H Group will be teaming up with Student Council, RAK Club, and Kids Care on several projects in the
future.
In March, our 4-H Club planned a Service Project to collect items for the Jefferson Parish SPCA. We
invited our Group and the homeschool community to donate towels or blankets ( bath size or beach
towels and any size blankets -no sleeping bags, no electric blankets, and no open weave/crochet throws -
for animal safety reasons)... these were to bring to the Marrero location SPCA. The project was a
success. We collected four large, overflowing boxes of towels! The Animal Shelter workers were so
grateful that we decided to keep this as an ongoing project. We were told by the SPCA workers that they
could use more towels and blankets. In addition, they are also in need of plastic grocery bags,
newspapers, and empty-single serve-water bottles (they fill the bottles with tap water and freeze them for
the dogs to have cool water in t he hot months). Any KEY Members who would like to donate items are
welcome.
In April, our 4-H Club planned to work on a Service Project to collect items for a Program called
"Operation Care". In this project, we collected items for Several Local Military Personnel who are
serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, these Military individuals needed small toys and clothing for
refugee children and adults in the areas that they were serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. We donated
about 12 boxes of clothing and toys to this drive! We brought the boxes to a local Church that is
coordinating the shipping. This will also be an ongoing Service Project by our KEY Student Clubs. Any
members who plan to do spring cleaning of small toys (nothing electric or battery operated) & clothing
that children/adults have outgrown can let any 4-H or Student Council Board member know they have
items and we will take it from there.
In May, KEY Students are planning a Bake Sale Service Project that is an exciting and fun campaign to
help fight childhood hunger in America. On Saturday, May 10, we will host the Share Our Strength's
Great American Bake Sale in front of Piggly Wiggly in Westwego. The proceeds we raise at our Bake
Sale will directly benefit childhood hunger programs in our region. All KEY Members are invited to
donate baked goods to this sale. Also, we would love members to come out and support the students by
purchasing sweets! Remember May 11th is Mothers Day! You can buy Mom a Treat from our Bake
Sale!!
Any or All KEY members can donate to the following Group Service Projects if they choose to. Our
4-H Group will be teaming up with Student Council, RAK Club, and Kids Care on several projects in the
future.
In March, our 4-H Club planned a Service Project to collect items for the Jefferson Parish SPCA. We
invited our Group and the homeschool community to donate towels or blankets ( bath size or beach
towels and any size blankets -no sleeping bags, no electric blankets, and no open weave/crochet throws -
for animal safety reasons)... these were to bring to the Marrero location SPCA. The project was a
success. We collected four large, overflowing boxes of towels! The Animal Shelter workers were so
grateful that we decided to keep this as an ongoing project. We were told by the SPCA workers that they
could use more towels and blankets. In addition, they are also in need of plastic grocery bags,
newspapers, and empty-single serve-water bottles (they fill the bottles with tap water and freeze them for
the dogs to have cool water in t he hot months). Any KEY Members who would like to donate items are
welcome.
In April, our 4-H Club planned to work on a Service Project to collect items for a Program called
"Operation Care". In this project, we collected items for Several Local Military Personnel who are
serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, these Military individuals needed small toys and clothing for
refugee children and adults in the areas that they were serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. We donated
about 12 boxes of clothing and toys to this drive! We brought the boxes to a local Church that is
coordinating the shipping. This will also be an ongoing Service Project by our KEY Student Clubs. Any
members who plan to do spring cleaning of small toys (nothing electric or battery operated) & clothing
that children/adults have outgrown can let any 4-H or Student Council Board member know they have
items and we will take it from there.
In May, KEY Students are planning a Bake Sale Service Project that is an exciting and fun campaign to
help fight childhood hunger in America. On Saturday, May 10, we will host the Share Our Strength's
Great American Bake Sale in front of Piggly Wiggly in Westwego. The proceeds we raise at our Bake
Sale will directly benefit childhood hunger programs in our region. All KEY Members are invited to
donate baked goods to this sale. Also, we would love members to come out and support the students by
purchasing sweets! Remember May 11th is Mothers Day! You can buy Mom a Treat from our Bake
Sale!!
