Alright sports fans, I have a special KIND act that I would like to share with you today. Joe LaBuda, coach of Menomonie High School football, recently decided to perform a very special KINDING for one of his senior players as an act of appreciation for four years of passion and dedication to the team.

Prior to a recent game against the Superior Spartans, Coach LaBuda arranged with his team and Spartans’ coach, Bob DeMeyer, to allow Sam Kolden, a special needs student with autism, to catch the ball in the upcoming game. Fully on board with the KIND act, Coach DeMeyer took things a step further and decided to let Sam run the ball for a touchdown.

With one minute and fourteen seconds left in the game, the plan went into motion. Sam Kolden caught the ball and ran it 66 yards for a touchdown. Needless to say, he wasn’t the only one beaming in the stadium.

This one act of kindness is a heartwarming example of the how a desire to spread joy to others can be utilized in any venue. The grand spectacle of sportsmanship has had a powerful effect on both teams and the communities that they hail from. I encourage everyone to share this amazing story and read more about this at the following site: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101010/GPG0210/10100608/Bill-Gosse-youth-column-Kind-act-felt-far-and-wide

-Thierry, KIND Operations Team

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

- Thierry, KIND Operations Team

I wanted to share a story and a cause that has really warmed my heart. An Elementary School in New Knoxville (OH) has made it a priority to focus on bullying education and effective prevention methods by implementing Rachel’s Challenge. Rachel’s Challenge is an educational initiative that focuses on creating a culture of positivity and kindness at both schools and businesses by challenging participants to start and progress a chain reaction of kindness.

The project has caught on so much that entire classrooms are competing to see who can create a chain with the greatest number kind acts. I can’t imagine the wonderful stories that must be resulting from this initiative. The town of New Knoxville must be bristling with young students making concerted and thoughtful efforts at spreading kindness and joy. Check out this article in The Evening Leader: http://www.theeveningleader.com/content/view/244782/1/ and visit www.rachelschallenge.org to learn more about the history and heartwarming mission of Rachel’s Challenge.

If anyone from New Knoxville is reading this blog, I would be honored if you would tell us about some of the kind acts that have resulted from this initiative. For everyone else, I don’t know about you, but if I find myself in Ohio in the future then New Knoxville will definitely be a stop on my trip. Hopefully, I will be able to show my appreciation for this amazing endeavor by adding a couple of chains of my own to the profound link they are building!

-Thierry, KIND Operations Team

Here at the KIND office we have a plethora of quotes painted on the walls. They range from simply funny to genuinely thought provoking. Of all of these quotes there are three in particular that resonate with me. I would like to share these three quotes with you. Promise me that you will mull them over as you navigate through your Monday routine (or any day that you read this). Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts and how they may have affected you if at all. Either way, I hope you like them as much as I do.

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.” – Oscar Wilde

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank

-Thierry, KIND Operations Team

In modern society, it is commonplace to be bombarded with stories about crime, hardship, and catastrophe in the media. Although these issues are of concern and necessary to hear at times, the consistency with which we hear them can create a skewed perspective on life and civilization. It becomes far too easy to focus on all of the negativity and look past a lot of the beauty and kindness that surrounds us every day. Because of this, I believe it is important to remind ourselves that every day millions of kind acts are occurring throughout the globe from the amusingly delightful to the wonderfully life changing. Like that of Jerry Armstrong an El Paso farmer who passed away of natural causes and left his estate of $1.5 million dollars to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Even acts as small as a Minneapolis man rushing to the street to refill his expired parking meter only to find that a stranger has done so for him (kindmovement.com), paints a picture of how amazing the world we live in truly is. So, with this mind, I want to encourage everyone to spread your kind stories and get the ball rolling on the counter revolution. I’ll start with a short youtube video that I came across that truly embodies my vision of our civilization.

- Thierry, KIND Operations Team