Save the Date:
This year we will honor and celebrate the legacy and gift that was our son Noah's life on Saturday, October 7, 2017.
We invite you to join us as we share acts of kindness in his memory.
There is no foot too small that it cannot make an imprint on the world.
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We invite our family and friends who are able to join us on Saturday, October 7 to join us as we share kindness within our local community.
Below is the complete schedule of events and if you are interested in joining us, please let us know by sending an email or let us know.
2017 TENTATIVE EVENT SCHEDULE:
PRE-OCTOBER 7 KINDNESS EVENTS:
Noah’s Kindness Project t-shirts August 25- September 10
St. Mary’s Food Drive- Can and Food Drive Collection
OCTOBER 7, 2017 SCHEDULE
8:00 a.m. Kindness Package for Postal Workers
8:40 a.m. Arrive at Feed My Starving Children- Mesa Location
9:00-11:00 a.m. Feed My Starving Children- Group Volunteer Shift
11:30 a.m. Arrive at Banner Desert Medical Center
NICU and Antepartum donations
12:15 p.m. Balloon Release
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Kindness Stones
3:30 p.m. Grocery Cart Return& Kindness Stone dispersement
5:30 p.m. Sunset visit at Noah’s Memorial Garden
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For the past two years we've had a wonderful time sharing kindness within our community, country and greater world. It is a day filled with so much love, kindness and activities that we sit down at the end the day and we are exhausted. That's the sign of a good days done right?
As much as we love and enjoy that special day in October, in talking this past year we realized that it is just that... one day. While we think of Noah everyday of our lives, and we plan to celebrate the legacy of his life each October, was there something more or different we could be doing? Over the last year Jarrett and I have talked and come to a decision that this year we wanted to do Noah's Kindness Project a bit differently this year.
We started off our plan in January of this year. What we decided is that instead of trying to jam pack 12 events of kindness into one day, we were going to be intentional about building in at least one act of kindness each month to honor Noah.
For the past 8 months we've been enjoying our own mini Noah's Kindness Projects and celebrating kindness with others. Some of the activities we've participated in our listed below...
- January: Toy and game box for children at Phoenix Children's Hospital- we gathered some toys and games to be shared with some children fighting big battles.
- February: Donating breast milk to NICU- a follow up blog post coming
More information coming.
- March: Extra Tipping of a Service Professional- While on vacation we got to know a few of the service professionals who treated us like queens and kings on our cruise. These folks are some of the hardest working people I know, with only a few hours of sleep a day that they are "off" and most of them
Just one of the many hard hard working crew on the ship that made us feel extra special.
- April: Grocery Cart Return- One of our favorites - This month was pretty busy for us as we moved out of our house and put everything in storage. For this month we decided to do one of our favorite kindness acts. Each time the kids and I would head to the grocery store, we'd take a few extra minutes and return all the carts left throughout the lot. On of our favorite things about this act of kindness is the response we get from others in the parking lot. You can see them watch the kids as they race from cart to cart. I stayed close to the van with Madelyn and I watched several people's responses. Some smiled and shook their head with approval as they drove away. Others took time to walk over to the kids and tell them individually how nice what they did was. And then there was the store cart return employee who was super excited to have the help. He seemed to be so grateful and high-fived each of the kids as they brought him the carts. Such a simple act, doesn't cost anything but time and is a nice help for many,.
- May: Fundraiser for NICU miracle therapy fundraiser- In May we helped by supporting a fundraiser for a little NICU miracle. A family from the NICU where Noah lived had a baby several years early who graduated from the NICU. He still struggles with some health challenged including physical ones. This summer his family was trying to raise money to be able to travel to California for a month long intensive therapy program for their little boy. They had a fundraiser which we supported. They were able to attend and so happy to report back that their little miracle had great success!
- June: Treats for NICU hospital staff. In June when we celebrated Noah's birthday we made our usual trip back to the NICU and to antepartum to take treats to the staff working. It was nice to visit with our great friend Lauren for a few minutes outside the NICU, it always feels a bit like going home for me when we head back there. Afterwards the kids and I went to the antepartum unit and when they let us in, none of the nurses there were there when I was a patient. They asked me about my stay and assumed it was for Madelyn who was in the car seat. Instead we shared the story about Noah and a couple of them knew about him (how cool) and the others were deeply touched by the fact that we continue to come back and visit and share treats. It was clear it meant a lot and it meant the same to us.
- June also: Kindness recovery box for precious little girl- one of our friends precious little ones had to undergo a major surgery and they faced several challenges on their daughter's road to recovery. We prayed for their little baby and wanted to do something to help. We took up this gift to them at the hospital, and left it at the front desk with the receptionists. They said they would delivery it to her room. As we were leaving the hospital, and walking out the doors we saw a rainbow and knew Noah was there with us. What made this act of kindness even more special was that when they delivered it to their room the person said this was to their daughter from Noah (we never mentioned who it was from).
- July: Scholarship for healthcare miracle worker, In July we gifted a scholarship per say to a well deserving healthcare professional. We became aware of this person's story and learned that they not only put themselves through college all while working but had to take out school loans to be able to go to school. After college they started working and have been a dedicated healthcare provided for a few years. They have been working very hard to pay off their loans. We gifted them a little extra to make some extra progress in their loan repayment process. We know first hand how mountainous student loans can see and upon gifting them some extra to help, it was clear they were deeply touched. It made us feel great to know we were able to help, even a little bit.
- August: Starbucks and McDonald's Drive through.. Pay it forward. While the month of August is just getting started, we've so far helped by pulling through the drive through and paying for the person's order behind us in line.
Not only was our hope to celebrate more than one day during the year but also help alleviate a bit of the craziness that has been NKP day the past two years. This year we will have a day of activities but we hope to have simplified our day a bit so that we can slow down and enjoy the acts a bit more.
We are starting to put together the schedule now. So stay tuned.... more information to come!
Until next time,
Angie
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