You’re sharing treats with friends and coworkers. You’re saving bees from swimming pools. You’re even showing some love to parking enforcement officers.
Apparently kindness isn’t taking a summer vacation.
That’s what we gather from the recent submissions to OCDE’s One Billion Acts of Kindness initiative, which kicked off last year to increase civility, promote character and establish positive school climates.
To date, more than 9.6 million good deeds have been registered at kindness1billion.org, with new ones coming in every day.
We thought we’d share a few of them here because, well, they’re pretty fun to read. And we can all use a reminder that kind people are out there, showing compassion to others every day.
I helped a friend find a job.
As part of a partnership with Inside the Outdoors, Boeing volunteers worked with OC students, teachers, and parents worked to install several school gardens throughout the 2016-17 school year.
A stranger just bought my iced tea at Starbucks!! Nice!!
My co-workers are amazing and always supportive.
My student, Veronica, bought a homeless woman a burrito.
I gave advice to a friend.
To celebrate Random Acts of Kindness week, our school wrote notes of kindness to each other. The notes were used to create a kindness tree which was displayed in our school’s multipurpose room.
Our school, Peters 4-6 Elementary, wrote letters to our veterans for Veteran’s Day.
I shared my food with my brother.
I encouraged my cousin while playing a game against him.
I helped an old lady in the grocery store.
Our OCDE Administrative Services Division collaborated with Coastal Angels for a beach cleanup on Saturday, June 10 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. There were a total of 50 volunteers and as a group, we collected a total of 86 pounds of trash. We collected tiny pieces of plastic, plastic wrappers, straws, popped balloons, and bottle caps. Coastal Angels provided gloves and buckets for us and we couldn’t be happier working with an amazing beach clean-up organization.
I held the door open for my classmates.
Rescued a bee from drowning in my pool.
Brought fruit from my trees at home to my office at work. People enjoyed it and passed on the sunshine.
My dad and a group (called) “Carpenteria Beautiful” picked up trash on the streets in Carpenteria.
A co-worker surprised me with a donut from my favorite spot after lunch. She just left it on my desk to find and I wasn’t sure it was her until I asked. Very kind!
Our local meter man is a huge target for unhappy people. My husband and I surprised him with a Jamba Juice gift card and two big smiles!
I have a fellow teacher who has health issues and doesn’t drive much. I have given her a ride home on numerous occasions. She never asks for the ride; I offer.
We are a kindergarten class at Golden View Elementary School in OVSD. We practice acts of kindness each day, but are most proud of Friday afternoon when we pick random classmates to tell them what we like about them. Everyone receives a “warm fuzzy” every Friday. It has completely bonded our class as a family.
Hopkinson Elementary School in Los Alamitos USD conducted a Kind-a-thon. There was no money exchanged, the only currency was kindness. In total, our Huskies and their parents recorded 3,425 acts of kindness. In addition, the leadership students posted kind words around campus, and helped put up posters with kind messages for arriving students. It was a great event!
A couple of months ago I saw an extreme act of kindness. I was in downtown L.A when I saw some people walking down the street with 200 cheeseburgers in boxes. They were walking around a very homeless populated area giving away free food to the homeless. This was a very kind act to do, given they did all this out of their own kindness.
We’re continuing to feature stories here as part of OCDE’s One Billion Acts of Kindness initiative. Be sure to submit yours at kindness1billion.org, and you can also share your good deeds on social media using the hashtag #kindness1billion.