Day 40: Helped Someone Smile

Every year, over 165,000 children are born with cleft lip or palate. Many of these children are born in developing nations that don't have the funds or the means to repair this disorder. These children struggle with eating and speaking properly, and many aren't allowed to attend school or work a job as they grow older. An organization called Smile Train is dedicated to providing free surgeries to children around the world who were born with cleft lip and palate.

I had seen the commercials before, but sadly never paid much attention to them or knew the extent of how cleft palate affected these children. Last night that changed when I received an email from the mother of an amazing young boy. A woman named Tanna sent me an email describing the mission of her son Samuel. Samuel is an 11 year old boy who, in December, saw a commercial for Smile Train. Instead of buying something for himself, Samuel wanted to use the money he received for Christmas and his birthday to fund one of the cleft palate surgeries (A single surgery can be funded with only $250!). Since then, Samuel has raised money to pay for 4 surgeries! After learning about Samuel, I was inspired to both help a child afflicted with cleft palate and to help Samuel continue his mission of giving. So today, for my random act of kindness, I visited Samuel's Giving Page, and donated towards his cause. It wasn't very much, but I was hoping that I could spread the word, and some of our wonderful followers may be able to help this young man on his quest to allow others a chance at a normal life. Even if you aren't able to give, please visit the site and if leave a message for Samuel if you so choose.

Day 39: Sent Encouragement and Well Wishes

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from ahead. Some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!

-Dr. Seuss

I have been overwhelmed by the response that this journey has gotten. People have thanked me for what I have done, some even saying I am an inspiration. While I truly appreciate the kind words that have been sent my way (and am very humbled by them), I know that there are others out there who are true inspirations.

I recently learned from Debbie, one of our Facebook followers, about a young girl named Katie Shores who is one such inspiration. On January 9th of this year, Katie and her mother were involved in a car accident which left Katie with critical injuries. Katie has been battling injuries to her kidney and liver in the Johns Hopkins ICU since, and has slowly been making progress. I have been following Katie's progress on her Carepages account and I am happy to pass along that as of yesterday Katie is out of the ICU. I'm not sure why I hadn't yet, but today, as my random act of kindness, I wanted to pass along my well wishes and encouragement to Katie to keep fighting. For such a young girl, she has shown such strength in the face of adversity. I am going to continue to log on to monitor her progress, and look forward to her recovery. If you get a chance, please visit the above link and send along your well wishes to Katie.

Day 38: Bought Lunch for Firefighters

I burned my hand on a hot bag of microwave popcorn the other day. Based on my shriek, you would have thought that I had temporarily morphed into a 7 year old girl. I threw a bag of frozen corn onto the burn, and whined about it to my wife for the rest of the evening. This incident has led me to swear off microwave popcorn for the foreseeable future out of my fear of another burn.

The reason I bring up this story is because it is my roundabout way of making a segue into the idea of fear. Or rather, the idea of fearlessness. Fearlessness is something embodied by the men and women who call themselves firefighters. Granted, I am being incredibly wimpy in this instance, but the fact that I am unwilling to grab a hot bag of popcorn, yet there are those out there willing to risk their lives by running into a burning building speaks volumes of their bravery and character.

KIND Healthy Snacks does a monthly mission of kindness on a given day of each month. February's/Today's mission is to express gratitude in some way to those who serve. I thought I would follow their suggestion and buy lunch for the Engine 4 Firefighters here in Chicago for my random act of kindness today. I stopped in to let the guys know that I was going to get their lunch, and they were more than grateful. They even gave me a T-shirt and took a picture with me in front of one of the fire trucks. I wanted to let them know that there are people out there who really appreciate what they do and the risks that they take. There was a small fire in my building last Saturday night, and I found out that the Engine 4 guys were the first ones on the scene. I guess this is just my small way of paying them back for keeping my family safe.