Random Acts of Kindness: Day 2 ~ Out and About

I've been seeing and hearing a lot of amazing ideas for doing Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) or ways to Pay it Forward. I've been wanting to have my family participate in this for quite some time so while we were running errands, we just decided to start.

When we pulled into the Target parking lot, I saw a gentleman sitting with his dog and a sign by the parking lot entrance. I've seen him many times before today. I really only remember him because of his dog, which is a very sweet looking Pitty.

I decided to tell the kiddos we were going to start the RAOK today by getting a few things for that man and his dog. They loved the idea. It took us a bit longer than expected to get what we needed and by the time we came out of the parking lot, he was gone.

My kiddos were so sad. I wasn't going to let that stop us. As we pulled out, there was a gentleman with one of the signs for a "Buy your Gold" store. You know the sign guys, waving and dancing on the side of the road. Well, we just pulled back into the parking lot and I told my eldest to take a bottle of water to him and tell him, "This is a Random Act of Kindness. Have a nice day." and then just walk back to the car. She did it and had a blast!

Water for the Sign Guy

Well we still had a Dr. Pepper, some Goldfish crackers, some protein bars and dog treats. I just kept driving. I realized we were right next to the library so I gave the Goldfish crackers to my youngest. She went in (I walked with her) and decided to pick the security guard and told him the very same thing and handed him the crackers. She was giggling when we walked away. Her response was, "I love being random!"

Goldfish for the security guard at the public library.

Next we had a Dr. Pepper and I wanted my kiddo in the cast to just hand it to a kid walking. She didn't feel comfortable doing it, so my eldest jumped out of the car and ran up to a kid walking down the street and handed him the Dr. Pepper. I think the shock on his face was priceless. As we pulled away, my youngest said, "It's so nice to just randomly pick someone. Usually you only get little presents if you do something good or you get hurt and not just because." It made my heart melt to hear that.

Dr. Pepper for the kid walking

As we pulled on our street, we saw a family playing on the tennis courts at the apartments up the street from us. The kiddos decided it was my turn. I pulled into a parking spot and jumped out with the box of protein bars, went into the courts and announced the same thing and walked away. As I got into my car, I heard one of the kids yell, "Thanks so much!" When I got in my car, the kiddos said they were doing sound effects as I did the RAOK. I asked what that sounded like and they started narrating the entire event. I just had to laugh.

Protein bars for the kids at the tennis courts.

We had only the dog treats left. There is a path back by a creek in our neighborhood where many people walk their dogs. Of course, this would be the only day I didn't see a single soul. It was even a nice day out. As we pulled away from the path, we saw the neighbors that live behind us going into their house. I had my eldest jump out and give them the treats being we know they have a dog. Apparently, the dog was at the door when she ran up. They seemed really thankful. (I didn't get a picture of the dog treats...use your imagination.)

We didn't get to give to the guy at the side of the parking lot but that turned into 5 separate RAOK. In some ways that was really nice because it was far more random. We'll put together another bag for the next time we see that guy at Target. I still want to do something for him. My heart breaks when I think about how many months I've seen him at the same spot...so that will be another RAOK (only it's not too random since I'm targeting him).

All in all, it was super fun. It was a great way to kick off this idea. I saw many blogs of people that did it over one day for their birthday or spent one week. I think I want my family to do it throughout the year or for at least 30 times!