My 23rd Birthday

 ~ 23 Random Acts of Kindness for my 23rd birthday ~

I had originally seen this on a blog somewhere and I've seen it a couple times online since. You spend your birthday doing nice things for other people. My birthday this year fell during my spring break so I was off and had the whole day free. Plans to go out of town fell through so I thought I should try this. It was really rewarding, although it was a lot more work than I thought! Not the being nice part but the running around town part. I would highly recommend doing this on your birthday (or not on your birthday) but I would suggest getting an early start and planning your day based on the locations of your acts. I prepared a list of ideas, some from online and some of my own, but I was looking forward to opportunities that arose unplanned, and those were the best.

Here's how mine went down: 

1. Leave cookies for the mailman

I attached the general note I made up that briefly explained my doings and then based on who or what I was doing I would personalize it or write a note like "enjoy coffee on me!" etc.
 

I also picked one thing (baking cookies) to do for several people. You can bake whatever you want or give as much money as you want but for me personally this was what I could afford, and making one huge batch and then dividing it up seemed easiest. The whole day cost me about $20-25. I'd say it was well worth it :)

2. Leave coins on a playground for children to find

This was fun! I felt like I was scattering food for the birds lol. 

3. Give cookies to construction workers

There happened to be a bunch of men working on the road near the playground I went to, and since it was FREEZING and gross on my birthday, I figured they were in need of cheering up. So a plate of cookies went to them.

4. Deliver thank you cookies to the police station

5. Donate books to the local library

6. Deliver cookies to the fire station

I especially enjoyed this one- they were a little confused at first when I wandered in there but once I explained, their reaction was great! They were so happy and nice. (And plus I feel like men appreciate the cookies more than women... a lady police officer greeted me at the police station and her reaction wasn't as fun, it was actually quite awkward, haha.)

7. Pay for someone else's coffee

This was great. A worker in an electric van pulled up behind us (this was where my mom joined me) in the Tim Horton's drive thru and after I paid for his I had the tim ho's worker give him the slip with my note on it :) He was nodding and waved up at us.

8. Donate clothes to the Salvation Army

9. Leave an uplifting sign on a community board 

We ended up leaving this in the fitting room at the Salvation Army... it seemed more fitting (no pun intended haha)

10. Bring cookies to Pam at Buff State

This woman in the financial aid office was so wonderful to me last fall, went out of her way to help me and made it possible for me to graduate this semester when things got messed up, and even though I already thanked her I wanted to visit again... she was so touched and got all teary eyed and we had a moment. It was probably in my top 3 moments of the day.

11. Put cash on someone's parking ticket (Can I get an AMEN all you Buff Staters??!)

This was something that I specifically wanted to do because I can't tell you how ruthless those Buff state po are and how many countless tickets I got... I thought for a moment maybe it would be hard to find a car with a parking ticket but no, who was I kidding! We found 6 right away with no problem. Several in the Burchfield of course. I put ten bucks inside one and left a note with their ticket... :)

12. Put change in an expired or almost expired parking meter  

13. Leave coins on a vending machine

Left money in a bag taped with a note to the front so the next person would see it.

14. Gave cookies to the hostess at Fridays

We went to dinner for my birthday and the hostess happened to be an old member of our church! We had a great time talking and laughing with her- she is a riot. I had an extra bag of cookies in the car. :)

15. Helped hold the doors open for two families and a girl on crutches

16. Send a card to someone in need

In this case, my friend's mother who has cancer. 

[Day 2] 

17. Call grandparents and tell them that I love them

18. Leave a dollar bill in the toy section of a store for a child to find

19. Bring cookies to the Salvation Army guy

He had just left when we tried to bring him coffee the day before, but I still wanted to do something for him since it was so cold those few days.

20. Pay for someone's toll fare

This also was a lot of fun. The car had several people in it and when they went by they honked and were waving and flashing the note in the window. This would be easy to do any time you go through a toll booth, why not do it every time?! The worker also seemed to enjoy taking a part in it, although next time I need to do something for them.

21. Go to the SPCA and donate money

Those dogs are so cute :)  

22. Apologize to someone for something you did wrong

I wrote to someone and apologized for something mean I did 11 years ago. This had been on my mind for a while, several years in fact. I think this one thing brought me the most satisfaction out of all 23 things.

[Day 3]

23. Donate blood

Ahhh!!! I did it! It was my first time. I got lightheaded after, which I thought would happen, but they took care of me and I got through it. 

 
I didn't get everything done exactly on my birthday so I did some things over the next two days here and there. I really wanted to get to my goal of 23 so as long as I did that I'm happy.

Thank you to those of you who participated in my RAK day by doing something nice for someone else and letting me know via facebook or text. You helped make someone's day a little brighter and I'm sure they appreciated your kindness! My personal favorite for creativity goes to Caleb, who said he held the door open 23 times for strangers. :)

Overall it was a great experience. What would the world be like if we were like this all the time? How many people would we effect? Especially as Christians we are called to love our neighbor as ourself, but are we REALLY doing that? I know we try to be kind and let Christ's love shine through us, we smile at people, help others in need, take that extra step and go out of our way to help someone, but how far are we willing to go? We get so wrapped up in our own worlds that we may be walking right by someone that needs us. I encourage anyone that has the time and energy to do this for a day to definitely do it, but please, don't just do it on that one day. Be kind every day. Be kind one to another. - Ephesians 4:32
   

Disclaimer: Based on a comment I feel the need to say- the purpose of this is not to receive any credit or glory for what I did. Please. The purpose for this post is to inform others what I did because there were many that expressed interest in doing this on their own birthday and asked me what specific things I chose to do. So I hope it helps. :)