Smile Cards

Have you seen the Smile Cards? These are very cool anonymous good deed cards that you can leave behind when you do something nice for someone. The idea is for that person to then do something nice in order to pass the card on to someone else.

It's the same basic idea as paying it forward, but it has the added motivation of "gotta do something nice to get rid of this card" thing. Not that we do kindness to get rid of our card, OF COURSE NOT, but you know what I mean. It's a little tickler to keep kindness in the front of our minds.

In the hubbub of our crazy lives it's easy to be distracted by being busy, by negativity, by the everydayness of the everyday. I love Smile Cards. Get yours today. They have free downloads at the web site. Try them out and go do some guerrilla kindness!

Random Acts of Kindness Week

The second week in February has been declared Random Acts of Kindess Week by the Random Acts of Kindess Foundation. WOOOOO! Time to celebrate! Time to act!!

Here are some people who have made plans for the week:

• The city of Clawson, Michigan
  
• Grand Island, Nebraska
  
• Springfield Public Schools
  
• Many, many others
  

What are you doing for Random Acts of Kindess Week? If your community isn't doing anything, why not pick a few things to do on your own? Or talk to your community leaders to institute some way to celebrate the week for next year. (That's one thing I'm planning on doing!)

To get more ideas, check out what people in your state are doing.

Please post back here and tell me your experiences for the week!

[photo: Adam Foster]

The 42 Cent Good Deed

Not all good deeds are about fighting poverty, curing cancer, saving war torn nations or other globe-changing causes. While those are all fabulous it takes a level of dedication that not everyone can afford at this time in their lives.

That's part of the idea of this site is to promote ways of changing the world and making it better one tiny little act at a time. Over the days, weeks, months, these add up and eventually change spreads in small and nearly immeasurable ways, but ways that make a lasting impact -- in the memory of a child, in the paying forward of kindness, in the satisfaction of changing one life.

You can't get much cheaper than a good deed for 42 cents. Michelle Herrmann and many other teachers like her are doing letter writing projects with their classrooms. They write to veterans or people in nursing homes or to soldiers. The letters brighten the day for the recipient and, in turn, the children enjoy doing these small good deeds by mail.

In the news story about Mrs. Herrmann's class, it is mentioned that she funded her program with $150 donated from a local philanthropic organization. That's about 18 books of stamps. Do you have 17 friends that you can join up with and collect 18 books of stamps to donate to a local teacher who has a letter writing program?

To put it into perspective... 18 books of stamps allows someone to write 360 letters which is 720 lives (sender and receiver) with the potential for change. That's a pretty big potential impact for the investment.

Why not take it up as your office or neighborhood challenge? Just 18 books of stamps. You can do it. I know you can!

The $1.39 Meal Challenge

Even before the economy began to get bad, there has been a significant poverty problem in America. Last year, 10% of Americans were considered below the poverty line (defined by the Census Bureau as making under $9,393 for an individual or $14,680 for a family of three). What would your life be like if you lived on less than $10,000 per year?

The USDA has put out their cost of food report for 2008. The foodstamp allotment for a family of four (the Thrifty Plan) is $500. This is what they say a family of four could expect to pay for food and actually live to tell about it. That's about $1.39 per meal for each person.

Have you every tried eating for $1.39? With the belt-tightening we've been doing around our house, we decided to try this as an experiment with some interesting results.

But I'd like to see what YOU manage to come up with. So, here is my challenge... try for a week or two to put your food budget at the amount allowable according to the USDA Cost of Food Chart on the Thrifty Plan. It goes by age and gender. Try it for your household and see what kind of experiences you have. It's a really fascinating change in perspective and gives you an entirely new way of looking at the world around you -- for better or for worse.

The only rules are that whatever menu plans you come up with MUST be nutritionally balanced and you have to do at least three meals per day.

Here is an added challenge if you can work this into your budget... whatever the difference is that you save while you're doing this challenge -- donate it to a local food bank. You'll feel great about the good you've done with your donation and the perspective you've gained from this experience will be priceless!

And don't forget to let me know how it goes!

[photo credit: TowerGirl]

BookCrossing

Do you know about BookCrossing? It's a great site where you can register books by their ISBN number then leave them in a public place for someone to pick up and then you can track them on the Internet to see where they go.

One might argue that I'm stretching the definition of "good deed" by including this in my collection of posts about budget philanthropy and good deeds. However, I personally feel that anything that makes someone smile, or think or pause to consider the wonders of the world is a Good Deed! And this is what BookCrossers do. If you love to read and love to encourage others to read you'll love this site. It's appealing to the scavengers in us and will brighten someone's day!

I hope you'll try it out. Get some books you don't want, go register them and have fun leaving books for people to have or even just had them out to random strangers. I bet someone will smile and have a great story to tell about you later.

Modest Needs

This site fits right into our "budget philanthropy" or "microgiving" theme. The name "Modest Needs" describes the grants that you can fund at this site. For example, a single mom who needs to pay some auto taxes at the DMV or an elderly gentlemen needs a little extra for his electricity bill.

You donate money to the site and your dollar amount is converted to points which you can apply to any grant request on the site. It puts your dollars exactly where you want them to go.

Go check it out and read some of the stories. If you're participating in a giving circle this might be a great one to donate to as one of your causes! (This organization is non-profit and your donations are tax deductible.)

Go CASA!

Have you heard of CASA? If not, you should check it out. My sister-in-law, Pat, is a CASA volunteer.

CASA stands for "Court Appointed Special Advocate", an adult who acts as an advocate for children who are, for whatever reason, caught up in the court system and have no adult to act on their behalf.

From the CASA overview at their web site:

CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in an inappropriate group or foster home. They stay with each case until it is closed, and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. For many abused children, their CASA volunteer will be the one constant adult presence—the one adult who cares only for them.

I am a huge, huge fan of CASA! There are never enough volunteers and there are little boys and girls who need you right now. Can you be their advocate? Can you make sure they don't fall through the cracks?

Go learn more about CASA at these web sites:

• nationalcasa.org
  
• casanet.org