- At a store or restaurant, pay an extra $5-$10 for the person behind you, and leave a Random Act of Kindness (RAK)/Pay It Forward (PIF) card. ie grocery store, fast food, coffee shop, gas station. Pay to wash/dry a stranger's laundry at the laundry mat. Pay for someone's bus fare or train ticket. If you are able to give a little bit more, consider paying for a stranger's chiropractic appointment, massage, doctor's visit, or dental visit the next time you go.
- Buy six or twelve roses (or more if you can afford it) and attach a RAK/PIF card to each rose. Go to a park, a mall, around your neighborhood, and give a rose to a stranger just because. "No matter who you are, no matter what's going on in your life right now, no matter what flaws you may think you have, you deserve this special gift." Remember to keep one of the roses for yourself! =)
- Go to Amazon.com wishlists, and enter a random first or last name into the search box. Pick a wishlist at random, sort by priority, and add the first $5 - $10 gift on the list to your own cart. Amazon will not share the other person's address with you, but you can still pay for it and have it shipped to them. Include a gift note that says "Smile! You've received a Random Act of Kindness gift! (Don't worry, Amazon kept your contact info private from me.) Enjoy! I hope this makes your day."
Click on the picture to see it full size.
- Go to the HelpOthers.org Smile Deck, and do the activity listed on the card. They've also got a great list of other kindness ideas further down the page.
- Research the poorest cities in your country, or a city still recovering from a natural disaster. Go to an online phonebook, and search the listings for one of those cities. Pick a name/address randomly. Buy a "Thinking of You" or "Encouragement" card, slip $5 - $10 (or more!) inside, and write a friendly, supportive note to the stranger. Include a RAK/PIF card. Mail it anonymously or with a return address, whichever feels more comfortable for you.
- Talk to your children's teachers, find out if there's anything they need for their classroom that isn't being provided by the schools. Here in California, USA many of the schools can't even provide pencils and paper for their classrooms, and the teachers are responsible for buying the textbooks needed to teach the children. See what your children's teacher and classroom needs. Don't have kids? Check out the nearest school to see what you can provide.
- Go to World Community Grid and sign up to "Donate the power of your computer when it is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity! We provide the secure software and system that does it all for free, and you become part of a community that is helping to change the world. Once you install the software, you will be participating in World Community Grid. It's that simple!" Current projects available include finding cures for cancer, muscular dystrophy, and AIDS.
- Check out the Year of Giving blog for more inspiration and motivation! Reed began a project in Dec 2009 to give $10 to a stranger every day, and blog about it. He's met a lot of interesting people, and has even started a "Lend A Hand" page where he lists the things some of the people he's met need, and blog readers can contact him to help some of these people out.
- Are you a knitter/crocheter? Make a hat & scarf set or a blanket and give it to a local shelter or homeless person.
- Check with your local homeless shelter to see what they need to have donated.
- Bring cookies or cake (consider home-made) to a local shelter or soup kitchen.
- Translate the RAK/PIF cards into another language, write them on the back of the cards you give away, and offer the translations to the sites with free cards. Here's the spanish translation I've been using on my cards: Reciba este regalo de bondad al azar y regale por favor a otra persona. (Receive this gift of kindness at random and give away to please someone else.)
- Free cards:
- Pay It Forward cards from Pay It Forward Day
- Smile Cards from HelpOthers.org
- Sign up for free at Giving Game and get trackable cards registered to the group Hearts of Kindness.
We'd love to hear your creative ideas as well, feel free to comment and let us know what your ideas are!
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