I am a Kindness junky! I love kindness quotes, I love doing random acts of kindness and I even named my company A Tiny Act of Kindness! But, why do I still struggle with road rage and getting upset with strangers when I’m in a hurry at the grocery store or hundreds of other times when I’m not kind? I am even usually very unkind to myself for being unkind to others.
I think it has a lot to do with my circumstances. Am I in a hurry? Do I have a deadline or appointment I’m trying to meet and do I see those around me as impeding my progress? Then I’m probably not thinking about being kind.
However, if I’m out doing street outreach for the homeless then I am definitely thinking about being kind. My attitude in this situation is to bless the people with our donations as well as our time and understanding. As I wrote in my blog post last week here, I have found that I am actually more blessed by doing this outreach and the homeless are so kind to me.
When I talk to friends, family and when I’m networking the conversation usually turns to the homeless outreach and often the concern I hear is that others want to do random acts of kindness for the homeless but they don’t know how. They see the homeless person on the street corners with their signs but they are afraid if they give them money it won’t be used to help themselves but will probably be used to feed an addiction.
What I have started practicing and I usually suggest to people, is carrying 2 gallon ziplock bags filled with various items like, a bottle of water, a pair of socks, some granola bars and wet wipes. I then will offer the homeless person this bag. I then watch for their reaction. If they are gracious and truly appreciate the items I have put together then I am much more likely to give them some spare cash that I might have on me at the time. I don’t know how they use that money but I do know from working street outreach and talking with the homeless that many of them don’t have addictions and they are spending that money wisely so I’m willing to take the risk.
Another way you can share random acts of kindness with the homeless is to donate to A Tiny Act of Kindness and help us to create our Homes for the Homeless community!
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