Day 152: Bought a Sandwich for a Homeless Couple

It is a miserable day here in Chicago from a weather standpoint. The forecast calls for chilly temperatures and rain throughout the day. My appointments today are in a part of my territory that requires me to walk around in the weather. However, I am not going to let a few raindrops stop me from spreading kindness. A little while ago I saw a couple asking for food outside of a restaurant. They weren't asking for money, they just needed some food to get by. Although I couldn't stop at that time because I was late for an appointment, I made it a point to swing bak around afterwards. So today, for my random act of kindness I purchased a couple of sandwiches, chips and waters for the couple. They were an older couple, and it hurt me to imagine how they have gotten to this point. Regardless of how it happened I'm glad I could at least help them a little bit today.

Day 151: Voted for an Impact Award Nominee

On Monday, I received a message from a friend overseas who is currently working with an organization called Life Bloom Services International, a group based in Kenya whose goal it is to intervene and save women and young girls who have been dragged into the sex worker industry.  Headed by Catherine Wanjohi, Life Bloom uses a mentoring model to help reconstruct the women/girls' self-esteem to "pave the way for them to fulfill their life dreams."  Currently, they are looking to build a One-Stop vocational and leadership lraining school for women and girls in Naivasha, Kenya.  One of the ways that they are looking to get the word out for this project is by trying to win the Global Women's Leadership Network's 2012 Impact Award which would allow Catherine to attend the Women Leaders of the World summit this July in California.  So today, for my random act of kindness, I will be voting for Catherine and Life Bloom Services International so that they can get closer to their goal of helping these women and girls out.  If you have a few minutes, please take the time to vote for Catherine's cause as well.

Day 150: Supported Stars of Hope

Over the weekend, my wife and I went to see a movie.  This might not seem like a big deal to anyone, but it was to us.  It was the first time since before my daughter was born that we were able to get away to see a movie.  I love going to the movies during the summer.  To me, there is nothing like leaving the scorching heat and humidity for a couple hours of enjoyment in the coldest air conditioning outside of a meat freezer.  While my most anticipated movie of the summer (The Dark Knight Rises) doesn't come out for a couple more months, I had been wanting to see Men In Black 3 for a while now because Will Smith is gold.  After convincing my wife that we would enjoy MIB3 more than What To Expect When You're Expecting, we were able to see it and it was awesome.  Before I go into a scene by scene synopsis of the movie, let me reel it in and get back to where my random act comes into play.  While purchasing our tickets to the movie, the teller asked us if we would want to purchase a star for Regal Cinemas' annual Stars of Hope program.  Stars of Hope is an event that takes place in movie theaters across the country where people have the opportunity to purchase stars and have the proceeds go to The Will Rogers Motion Pictures Pioneers Foundation.  The foundation promotes and engages in medical research for cardio-pulmonary diseases as well as education programs for the public on health and fitness.  They also work to help the creation of treatments and cures for pulmonary diseases and disorders.  Although I could have purchased the star then and there, I knew that I wanted to do it for one of my random acts, and told the teller that I would be back to get a star.  She has probably heard people say this in the past as a way to get out of buying one, but I hope she is there today when I return because today for my random act of kindness, I am going to be supporting the Stars of Hope by going back and getting one of those stars.  Now if Will Smith can do a random act of kindness for me and get together with Martin Lawrence and Michael Bay to make Bad Boys 3, it will be an all around great day.