A Note from the Neighbor (from Week 4)

Week 4 - Success!

Muffin...that's the little dog's name! We hopped over to our neighbor B.'s house on Thursday after school, but no one answered the door. So Friday evening before dinner we tried again, and Mr. B. answered with Muffin running out onto the porch. Noah handed Mr. B. the little bag we had put together with chocolate chip cookies and two hot chocolate sticks.

He looked a little confused, so I simply explained that we had baked cookies this week. "Oh, my goodness!" he replied. I think he was just a bit surprised. <grin>

Mission accomplished!

Week 4: Make Cookies

This week we are making cookies...and then delivering them to our neighbor. We have a neighbor a few houses down who are grandparents. We see their family there on occasion, but really not many people visit, that we notice. Mainly the husband goes out - he does errand runs all the time for his wife, and always with a smile and a wave.

They have a little dog, I think her name is Cupcake. When it is warm outside, and we take a walk around the neighborhood, the doggie usually comes to say "hi" to us. I think the wife may have cancer, or another disease, that keeps her home most of the time. The only times we see her are on Sundays, when our cars pass.

And then the other times we see our neighbors are when we have the once-a-year school fundraiser when the boys knock on doors, asking for support (a.k.a. money). So this should be a surprise this week when we deliver cookies instead! I think I may also add in two of the last "hot chocolate on a stick" that we had made at Christmas.

Today we made the cookies...tomorrow will be the delivery...

Challenge: Make some cookies or your favorite snack and take it to someone who you rarely see.

Week 3 - Success!

Tuesday night we helped to serve dinner at the First Presbyterian Church's weekly free meal. We arrived early to help with the set up - boy was it cold that evening! And we tried nearly every door to get in quickly, but they were all locked...the fourth attempt and we made it inside.

Our first task was to set out salt and pepper at each table. Then the boys unloaded the dishwasher and placed all the glasses and plates at the serving counter. Noah and I rolled knives and forks inside napkins and placed them in baskets.

Then there was a lot of waiting...while waiting for the food to arrive, I chatted with Pastor Linda of First Presbyterian and learned more about their weekly free dinner.

They started the dinner right at 3 years ago, in January of 2009. The first few meals they only served 3 to 10 meals each night. Their only advertisement was fliers at the food pantry, laundromat, library, and the small "hotel" behind the church, as well as their sign right on Main Street. They have never asked the local businesses for support, but God has provided the necessary funds for the meals each week. They have also received a small grant from the Presbyterian organization.

Soon, other churches volunteered to help out with the weekly meals as well. The Zion United Church of Christ prepares and serves the first Tuesday, New Hope Assembly of God and another church prepare and serve the third Tuesday, and the local Kiwanis Club prepares and serves when there is a fifth Tuesday.

Last week, there were 65 meals served, and they ran out of food! Pastor Linda said that was the first time that had happened.

Then the food arrived, and we set back to work. We were in charge of the drinks. Noah and Joey donned some plastic surgeon's gloves and filled each glass with ice. I filled the glasses with sweet tea and lemonade. We also had a pitcher of regular tea for those who asked.

Note that the meal is not served with plastic...each meal is served on a heavy porcelain plate with good flatware, and a tall, heavy glass of tea or lemonade. They also had kids' heavy duty plastic divided plates and fun cups, as well as sippy cups for the little ones. There was also coffee available with small mugs. The dessert is served on a small styrofoam plate.

Pastor Linda unlocked the doors at 10 minutes to 6:00 pm, and several families came in immediately to find a place to sit. Right at 6:00 pm, the meal began. The main dish was piping hot mostaccioli, with a side of salad, a big dinner roll, and a pat of butter. For dessert, there was a choice of carrot cake with icing or a brownie.

When folks were finished eating, we rinsed plates, and Noah filled the dishwasher. We were not able to stay until the meal ended at 7:00 pm, but by the time we left, they had served nearly 50 meals.

I am already seeing a change in Noah, our oldest. He was eager to help throughout our time at the church and did well with asking "What's next?" as soon as he was finished with a task.

Did you serve a meal this week to another family? Did you do another random act of kindness? We want to hear about it, so please feel free to post a comment below! Or, why don't you join us in our weekly project? Jump in at any time!

Week 3 - Serve a Meal

So this week we are going to serve a meal...

The First Presbyterian Church in our hometown hosts a free dinner every Tuesday night for anyone who would like to come. According to the information on their church website, they serve about 40 meals each week.

Tonight we will be helping to set up for the meal, helping to serve, and then helping to clean up afterwards. When I called the church to find out if we could come help, she said this week is the week they are usually short on helpers - go figure! I wonder how it is that this week we wanted to help...<wink>...

Isn't it amazing how Someone works things out?

Challenge for you: Find a way to serve someone this week - maybe it's having another family over for dinner...family fun and service in one

Week 2: Buy the Order Behind Us...Success!

Yesterday we did not take the time to discuss what we wanted to do for this week's random act of kindness. I had mentioned it to the boys on Saturday that we would talk about it just to get a feel for what they were thinking, and they suggested buying someone's meal at a restaurant (of course, it was motivated by the fact that they wanted to go out to eat themselves!).

Well today I had been craving a mocha...so much so that I even briefly considered running out to Wal-Mart and picking up my own little one cup mocha maker. The extra jolt of caffeine sounded like the perfect pick-me-up I needed today. After deciding I really don't have any room in my kitchen for one, I settled on running by McD's after I picked the boys up from school.

As we were waiting in line, and I had counted out my change for my $2.51 small mocha, I casually mentioned to the boys we had not decided on a project for the week. Yep, they unanimously suggested to buy the person's order behind us.

After I agreed, I started thinking about it a little more...that's great if it's just an after-school snack, but what if they have a $30 order? To my relief, it looked like a young mom and her child in the back seat. But then I thought, well, they could be having an early supper with 5 siblings at home or bringing home chicken nuggets to put in the deep freeze!

As soon as I had paid for my order, I casually told the drive thru worker that I would like to pay for the car behind me as well. The total was $9.06 (whew!), and I handed over my debit card.

My mocha was ready for me at the pick up window, and I was on my way before the lady behind me could track me down.

As I pulled away, I glanced in the mirror to see if I could catch her reaction...I wish I could have taken a picture! Her face was a little bit confused and a little bit shocked that the cashier wasn't taking her money. And he was leaning out the window telling her he had no idea who it was in front of her. And then we were around the corner and on our way to the highway.

Challenge for you: Go ahead, buy the order behind you in the drive thru and bless someone's day!

Success for Week 1!

We did it! It's nearly the end of the week, but we accomplished our goal of holding the doors open for people.

As you can see, we ended up not at Ponderosa, but at the boys' elementary school. What is better than holding doors when over 700 people need to enter a building within just 45 minutes?

The building is unlocked at 7:15 am, so we planned to be there by 7:20 am...yeah, that didn't happen. By the time we made it to school, parked, and walked over, it was 7:35 am. Each of the boys grabbed a door just as more buses were unloading students.

I grabbed this picture with my phone between the busloads so I wouldn't get any other students in the picture. However, we had inspired another student to also hold doors, but he will remain anonymous. : ) After 10 minutes of opening and closing the doors, the two older ones headed inside to class.

Joey (far left in the picture) did really well with smiling at students and even greeted a few with a hearty, "Welcome!" Noah (second from left, hiding behind his fedora) kept his enthusiasm low key. And Jacob (far right) was pretty good at just hanging in there.

This was a good start to our random acts of kindness project, something simple with little effort. I hope they do warm up to this a little more each week!

Did you do a random act of kindness this week? Share with us below!

Week 1 - Hold Doors Open

Tonight at dinner I reminded the boys about our project for the year. They hadn't forgotten, but they were a bit apprehensive. We hadn't discussed the list of ideas with them yet, so they weren't quite sure what to think of it.

So I read the list, getting a few "no" and "maybe" answers (I think they were waiting for something super easy to ease us into this). The resounding "yes" was "Hold doors open for people." Something simple for a 4, 6, and 8 year old to do with a smile. And, they already do this without prompting usually, so this should go smoothly...right?

When I asked them where they would like to go to hold doors open, they immediately answered with "Ponderosa." Yes, feel free to chuckle with me. They actually had very good reasons:

• the restaurant is busy at lunch time
• lots of old people go there
• they want to eat there when we are finished with holding doors

I think we will probably try to go tomorrow or Tuesday since the kids are still off school. However, we will eat our lunch before going and then maybe stop by Dairy Queen afterwards if all three of them succeed (which I am sure they will!).

Challenge for you: Hold the door for at least one person behind you each time you open the door.