Random Acts of Kindness
A new project for our club was the Random Acts of Kindness program. We encouraged Rotarians to do RAK’s on an individual basis; buying a meal for the person following you in a fast food drive thru, holding the door open for someone, or cleaning the snow off someone’s car window, etc.. We printed business cards that can be given or placed to hopefully be reused by the recipients.
Our first group event involved multiple activities taking place at the same time:
- Several Rotarians went to a couple of locations and paid for individuals’ gasoline.
- Others went to a local fast food restaurant to pay for a few people’s meals.
- Some bought groceries at a local market.
- A large group went to an elderly gentleman’s home and spent hours on yard work including the removal of debris and repairing an access ramp.
Other events have involved a more strategic effort to assist families and individuals in buying groceries just before Thanksgiving. We positioned Rotarians throughout a local store to observe what the shoppers selected and at times put back on the shelf as they appeared to be prioritizing how to spend their money. Once they walked away, a Rotarian would put the item in a basket and meet them at the check-out counter to buy what they had gathered as well as the items they put back on the shelf. We also added a small turkey to their basket.
One of the more unique events was a “Reverse Roadblock”. We secured the proper permit, then on a cool and rainy Saturday morning a group of Rotarians descended on a busy intersection that is frequently used to take donations for one reason or another. When people stopped at the intersection we would present them with a $5 gift card to McDonald’s, and one of our RAK’s cards. Needless to say we surprised a lot of people who, thinking we were asking for money, were already digging into their purses or pockets for a dollar or two.
