Someone We All Need to Meet

Have you ever played the game where you make a list of ten people you'd like to meet in your life and then you compare that list with friends?  The point of the game is to spark conversation and reveal something about you others don't know.

The first five names come quickly.  They're usually the names of people who are famous, or rich, or responsible for some kind of remarkable accomplishment.  Many of our close friends probably already know our top five because they've heard us mention their names.  But what about numbers 6-10?

In the Top 10 game, generating the names for numbers 6-10 usually brings reason for pause.  Once the celebrity list is exhausted, we typically begin to look more closely at those people around us.  We say things like, "I'd like to meet my grandfather.  He passed away before I was born" or "I'd like to meet the person who taught my mother how to sew.  It brought her such great joy."

While the top five people on our list often reveal something about us on a surface level, the bottom five people on the list often reveal something about our hearts.  Do we have the list upside down?  We probably do.

All of this is to say, there is someone out there we all need to meet.  Someone whose name should be in the top five or our Top 10 list.  Someone who has the kind of qualities that deserve our admiration -- generosity, selflessness, altruism.  Someone who responds to our Spirit of Giving campaign with this:

Our Spirit of Giving campaign, shared in a previous post, provides all KF0 sponsored children with a $20 gift card to be used on a random act of kindness from their own heart. The goal is to help grow a new generation of children who learn that giving to others is an important part of a person's responsibility.

This someone we need to meet --  The someone who sent the handful of $20 bills in the mail -- We have no idea who it is.  Look at the photo again.  No name.  The envelope?  No return address.  The postmark?  Not a from a neighboring town.

Who is this person?  What is their story?  What experiences did they have that helped shape them?

We will probably never know, but this much we do know.  Their random act of kindness touched our hearts in a profound way and reminded us that the untold story of a person's life is often the greatest story of all. 

For our anonymous friend whose heart is pure, thank you for your generous deed.  The ripple effect of kindness reaches farther than you can imagine.  We will think about what you did and what it means to us and our KF0 kids for a very long time.  We will carve out a new corner in our hearts and find ways to pay your good deed forward.

The response to our 'Tis the Season, Spirit of Giving campaign has been extraordinary.  We've raised enough money, in $20 increments, to provide ALL our KF0 sponsored children with funds for their random acts of kindness.  In fact, the response to our campaign has been so great that we have decided to continue it year 'round.  Going forward, all future children sponsored by Kids Five & Over will be provided with funds for a random act of kindness -- a pay-it-forward deed -- to help teach them that doing something for someone else is an important part of living a good life.

Thank you to all who dug deep into their pockets, gathered their spare change, and used the opportunity to show their own kids the importance of giving.

The final destination of your donation in is the hands of our youth and we know they will make you proud.