Groups and Families Rose to the Challenge

In addition to Kids for Peace, a wide range of other groups were involved in both promoting and participating in The Great Kindness Challenge. As noted in an earlier post, Kids Care Clubs promoted the Challenge to its 1,800 chapters worldwide. One of them prepared a special dinner for cancer survivors. A group of Girl Scouts delivered treats to local fire stations and their public library. One YMCA involved all 250 of its campers in acts of kindness. A first-grade teacher made it a class project for her 20 students. Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, church groups and many other organizations also took part.

Many families also found The Great Kindness Challenge to be a great way to spend time together that Saturday, if not also a way to strengthen familial bonds by working together in a common cause. In one of our favorite comments on our Facebook Fan Page, one family said it was their “favorite event of the year.”

Thanks to everyone involved for making this event so special.

We Did It!

Thank you all so much for supporting The Great Kindness Challenge and helping us rock the world with kindness on August 8. Based on the reports we have received so far, The Great Kindness Challenge was celebrated in at least 48 US states and in at least 35 countries, spanning every continent except Antarctica.

We can't wait to read your stories and see your photos and videos. Please share them with The Great Kindness Challenge community by posting them on the "Just Fans" wall of our Facebook Fan Page. Just click the Facebook link on the GKC website. In the coming days we'll post some highlights from the big day, so stay tuned.

To acknowledge and thank each of our participants, we created a special Certificate of Kindness. Just visit our website to download and print your free copy.

Thanks again for making August 8, 2009 such a special day. Thanks to support from people like you, youth around the globe touched countless lives with so many, many gifts of kindness. Imagine how our world was changed.

Volunteers Make It Happen

Much of our success in promoting The Great Kindness Challenge is
thanks to a terrific group of 10 interns and volunteers. They have
dedicated many hours over the past couple of months, doing things like
calling/emailing other youth organizations to encourage their
participation, spreading the word via Facebook and Twitter, and
posting The Great Kindness Challenge on all sorts of events-related
websites and newsletters.

Beyond that, they have provided tons of invaluable feedback, advice
and suggestions. Some of our best ideas have either come from or been
shaped by this bright, hard-working and big-hearted team of
volunteers.

“I decided to volunteer because I thought this is an event that can
touch people's hearts,” says one intern, Karen He. “I feel like I'm
helping make this amazing cooperative event come true by just being a
part of it. It's neat how all the work gets divided into sections and
groups of people do different things to help it succeed.”

Another, Melanie Slocum, says “I have gained a new view of the world;
I learned that there are others out there who care about our world as
much as I do, which is all the comfort a person needs.”

And speaking of other people out there, thanks also to the many people
who have contacted us via email to offer their help and/or to tell us
how they’ve volunteered to help promote The Great Kindness Challenge.
People whom we’ve never met have distributed flyers at their
workplace, spoken about it at their church, organized group acts of
kindness and spread the word in countless other ways.

Thanks to our terrific team of 10, and our large, extended family of
supporters, for making The Great Kindness Challenge such a huge event,
spreading kindness around the world.

GKC Now in 25 Countries, 6 Continents

Just one year ago, the first Great Kindness Challenge was held among local Kids for Peace chapters in San Diego. This year, we decided to share this joyful event with the world. And boy are we thrilled to see how the world has received it!

Based on who’s been downloading the checklist so far, we expect to have participants in at least 25 countries, spanning 6 continents। They are Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Ghana, Guam, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Romania, Singapore, Turkey, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

There are still plenty of countries to cover. And surely this list will grow over the next few days, thanks to all of you helping spread the word. If anyone knows of a youth expedition in Antarctica this weekend, please let us know. It’d be great to get that 7th continent!

Kids Care Clubs Promotes GKC

We’re delighted to be joined by Kids Care Clubs as a key partner in promoting The Great Kindness Challenge. A part of the HandsOn Network, they provide opportunities for elementary and middle school children to develop compassion and inspire a spirit of volunteering.

Kids Care Clubs recently sent a special email about The Great Kindness Challenge to their 1,800+ clubs worldwide, which involve more than 100,000 children! Plus, they have featured the Challenge in their August newsletter and on their home page. See it here: www.kidscare.org.

This is a big help in reaching our goal of at least one million participants. We are so grateful to have their support. Thank you, Kids Care Clubs!

Smiling faces

So what’s so special about a day of kindness? What can it possibly do to change the world? Perhaps world peace won’t be achieved on August 8th during The Great Kindness Challenge.

But according to the children who participated in last year’s event, their perception of the impact they have on the world was irrevocably changed.

Children will again be empowered during The Great Kindness Challenge to help others, make choices that bring a more peaceful world into focus and within our grasp.

There are countless stories from last year’s participants. Shawlin, 7, reflects on his favorite part of The 2008 Great Kindness Challenge. “We basically made a lot of people smile for no reason at all,” he said. “I mean, most of the time a person will do something for you and you say ‘thank you’ or do something nice. But on that day we just did nice things for a lot of people we didn’t even know.”

Extending kindness to strangers, for instance, to the firefighters who are responsible for protecting the community, brings as much joy to the giver as the receiver. Shawlin was a little hesitant to put paper hearts on neighbors’ car windows. “But they won’t know who did it,” he exclaimed. He did it anyway.

The following week one neighbor happened to be talking about this mysterious heart that showed up on her car. It was a particularly difficult time for her, as she was struggling with a very difficult personal decision. “Seeing that heart immediately lifted my spirits,” she said. “I had no idea who left it or why but it made me feel so special, so sure that everything would somehow be alright.”

The Great Kindness Challenge is an opportunity to have that same impact on someone in your community, someone you may not know, perhaps someone across the globe.

Join us by visiting: www.greatkindnesschallenge.org. Tell your friends and family how easy it is to participate.

We look forward to hearing more inspiring stories from this year’s challenge!

The Great Kindness Challenge Checklist Released

Today is the BIG day!

In preparation for The Great Kindness Challenge on August 8th, we've compiled all of your fantastic suggestions to create The Great Kindness Challenge Checklist.

Fifty acts of kindness are now available on our website: http://www.greatkindnesschallenge.org/.

From picking up trash in your neighborhood to planting a tree to smiling at 25 people to reading a book to a younger child, these acts - both big and small - will make a difference in someone's life.

Our goal is for 1 million people to participate in The Great Kindness Challenge. You can help spread the word by sending the Checklist to your friends, family, community groups, or whoever you think might like to get involved.

No matter how old you are, you have the power to help create a better world. Thank you for joining us!