365 CLUB - Committed to 365 Acts of Kindness in 2009

Last Friday I was walking into Kinko's to do some work on a book proposal that is due at the end of this month.  I walked in with my Starbucks in hand and was greeted by one of the Kinko's employees, George who joked, "Hey where is mine?"  I immediately said, "What do you want...I'm buying!"  I looked around and there were two other people working in the store that morning and I felt prompted to buy everyone at Kinko's the Starbucks of their choice.  When I got back with their favorite drinks in hand you would have thought they won the lottery!  They were super grateful and it was just a fun and spontaneous random act of kindness.  After I settled in behind my computer I decided to post my experience on twitter and remind the people who follow me how a small act of generosity can make an impact.  That is not where the story ends.  The next thing I know Scott Couchenour took the idea and set up a facebook group 365 Club.  The premise of the 365 Club is simple:  it is a group of people that are committed to doing 365 acts of kindness in 2009.  This all started on Friday.  It is now Sunday night and the 365 Club already has over 240 members who have committed to doing more than 78,000 acts of kindness in 2009. 

Michelle Thomas is one of the first members of the 365 Club and here is what she posted yesterday:  "Yesterday, I waited until around 2:30am and I gathered up a bucket of hot, soapy water and took it down to the parking garage in my condo building. I found the dirtiest car on my floor, washed it, dried it, and left a note card in an envelop on the windshield with the words, MAKE THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE, PAY IT FORWARD on it."

If you want to join the 365 Club on facebook, click HERE.

Comments

[George Bressler]

Pastor,

This is exactly what the world needs. Random acts of conditionless kindness, right now, in the moment, and shared.

Bless you,
TakeAction!
http://www.whatarack.org/

[Ronnie and Irma Teague]

We have known David since he was born and the family also. My husband and I were driving to South Texas for 2 months. On Jan 3, at about 7 a.m. and in very thick fog and we could not see where we were traveling and cleared enough to pull into a IHOP in New Brumfels, Tx. We visited with an older gentleman seated across from us. We ordered and he left after eating, our server came over and said Riley paid your bill. She said he comes in every day for breakfast and he does not do this act. Make a long story short we left a thank you note to Riley and after sharing tears, my husband, Ronnie and I say we pass our RILEY day to someone else everyday.

[LC]

Giving to the Needy
6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you

[Dave Ferguson]

"...let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

[Helena Harper]

This is an inspiring story! I've been blessed with meeting many kind people in my life, such as my physio, who is so generous with his time. I've often thought what the world would be like, if we all followed his example:

'If we all gave of ourselves
as this man does,
imagine the world we would create!
Each of us treating strangers
as our other half,
where nothing was too much
for the well-being of another
and selfishness was forgotten,
a thing of the past.
If we followed this man’s lead,
we would gradually overcome
all obstacles that impede,
for this imagined world is the goal
we secretly long for with all our hearts.
“Then let’s start on the path,” comes the shout,
“that will make it concrete, substantial and real!”
(from 'Family and More - Enemies or Friends?')

I think the 365 Club is a great way to start out on that path!

Helena Harper
www.helenaharper.com

[Gail Strand]

I heard about your club on KTIS in Minneapolis today. Since I know of you through my kids, Scott & Kirsten, I was immediately fascinated with the idea and will definitely be joining! Bless you!

[John Ciesniewski]

Hi Dave!

Love it! Super excited about what God will do through everyone who's signed up.

Oh, and next time we have lunch, remember your wallet :)

[Dave Ferguson]

Funny, John. There are two possibilities here:

1. I was just giving you an obvious opportunity to do an act of kindness.

2. I could twitter how I got a free lunch off of you and then inspire someone to stat the FREE LUNCH CLUB!

[John Ciesniewski]

Actually Dave, there are three possibilities and I'm betting on possibility #3:

3. Your wife now takes your wallet two days a week to ensure you're generosity doesn't exceed the household income :)

[Peter P]

Great Idea.

I challenged people to do something very similar but only for 12 days.

I can't link to you because for some insane reason my blog won't allow me to post links to anyone on typepad but I've posted a link to the facebook group on my blog.

[Shari Crowley - Shorewood Campus]

Awesome idea Pastor Dave! This story was shared on K-Love the other day and it made me smile to know that your generosity is continuing to spread all over the world. You are a blessing in many lives!

[Cherylene Kelly]

At Christmas, We heard about a couple in our church who has 3 kids and that they were undergoing some financial difficulty. The Father is a cab driver, and his personal cab was down for repairs....so my husband and I decided to give a present to the couples' cab, and we gave them $1000 for repairs. They were overjoyed for the gift, and thanked us so profusely, but we simple told them to continue thanking God for HIS Amazing LOVE!

Sometimes it is good to share our acts of kindness so that we may inspire others to give a gift of love...

[365 Acts of Love]

Hey Dave,

I just found out about the 365 Club. Awesome! Do you have a post that concerns some of the results of your project?

I'm doing something similar, but for a specific person--my wife. Every day for 365 days, I'll do something loving for my her, then blog about it. When the 365 days are up, I'm going to show my wife the blog. I'm currently on day 54.

[Dave Ferguson]

If you want to see what has happend with the 365 Club check out our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/365Club Pretty cool! And love your idea. Dave