Over the lifetime of this project, 500 Kindnesses has had a connection to The Moorings of Arlington Heights, a retirement home in Illinois. During the summer while we were on our trip, he residents sent us several pledges, one large batch here, and a second batch here. As the holidays approached, participants in our project sent them over 400 holiday cards.

Yesterday over on our Facebook Page we received an update from Geri, the Activities Coordinator who has been our connection to the residents throughout the project. Have a read and if you have a minute, why not send a letter, a postcard from your summer vacation, or even an email to say hello to the residents!

Geri says:

Thank you all for sending us a card at Christmas. I apologize that it took so long for me to get back to you. We have been very active here and overwhelmed by people’s generosity. The resident’s got together and created thank you cards. However, it was then up to me to match the names with the addresses. We received over 400 cards and the task became a little more difficult.

We are happy that the winter is now over and we are able to go on the patio again. We have a lake here too with two swans and lots of geese. Everyone enjoys the feeling of the wind and the smells of spring. We have many activities planned for the summer. We are having a family day with a circus theme. We also go on bus outings once a month. This month we are going to the Botanic Gardens. We enjoy going out for breakfast the most!

Everyone is very happy here and we keep very busy with activities. Singing, bingo, parties, music, concerts, trivia, and lectures. It is hard to stay in our rooms with so much going on. Today is the ice cream social!

Men’s club is once a month. The chef prepares a wonderful dinner for us. Only for the men! This month we are celebrating the Kentucky Derby.

Please feel free to email us and we will answer back. You can send cards to because we feel very special when we receive cards and letters.

Thank you again for taking time to write us. Our email address is
gwozniak@presbyterianhomes.org
Geri Wozniak
c/o The Moorings of Arlington Hts
761 Old Barn Lane
Arlington Hts, IL 60005

Three summers ago I made my first 600 km trip from Toronto to Montreal to benefit the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation. The summer after that I signed up for that trip and created Long Ride East which added another 400 km of riding from Montreal to Quebec City to raise even more money. And of course last summer I rode 1,500 KM with my son from Toronto to NYC by way of Ottawa and Montreal for this project.

This summer I won’t be taking on a large physical challenge but I’m eyeing another. The TriAdventure happens August 16-18 and includes a 3KM swim or 15 KM run, a 15 KM Canoe, and a 140 KM bike ride all over the course of three days. There’s no way I can adequately train for that in time to leave this year, but I’m going anyway – this time as a volunteer crew member. I’ll be watching to see if it is something I think I can manage. If so, I’ll do it in a year or two. I expect I will feel like a kid at the edge of the playground, watching the bigger kids playing and building up the courage to go play with them myself.

So what is this all for? This benefits the Nikibasika Development Program – a home for 51 vulnerable children in Kasese, Uganda who have been left without family support through poverty, HIV/AIDS or violence. This event has become these kids’ primary source of funding for a program that begins with food, shelter and education and aims to help them become self-sustaining citizens who contribute to a vibrant, diverse global community.

So you’ll see me in August, quite possibly in costume, cheering on the big kids and gearing up the courage to join them. In the meantime, your sponsorship is very much appreciated, and will benefit the folks at Nikibasika. Because the Nikibasika Development Program is a registered Canadian charity, you’ll receive a tax receipt for your pledge.

Make your pledge here.

After much consideration, I think the time has come for this project to retire. In the process of doing this project I learned a lot. One of the biggest lessons I learned was to “Just do it.” instead of dithering and waffling back and forth. Doing this dithering results in being in a limbo of inactivity. You’re not saying “yes” or even “no” – you’re doing neither and not moving forward. This is what seems to stop so many from doing the kind things, or the amazing things they want to do.
For some time I was unsure whether or not 500 Kindnesses had run its course or not. As it turns out, I believe it has. It had an amazing run with almost 1,500 acts of kindness pledged over the course of nearly two years. Together Daegan and I had the ride of our lives – over 1,500 kilometres from our home in Toronto through Ottawa, Montreal, my home state of Vermont, and all the way down to New York City. We met many new friends both through the project and on our trip, and people shared so much inspiration with us. As I look at what I just wrote, I see that I have sort of come full circle. The original route was a direct one from Toronto to NYC with a tag line “One act of kindness for every mile” The direct route would have been 500 miles. Now, 2 years later, we have reached the milestone of 1 act of kindness pledged for every kilometre we rode.

The project really moved me as well. One can’t spend two years seeing people performing selfless acts of kindness of all sorts without changing your perspective about the nature of humanity. We’re surrounded by amazing people. A look at the newspaper may give you the idea that the world is filled mostly with selfish, greedy people. In two years I feel like I’ve been able to see an entirely different world from that.

As to what’s next? I have to say that I don’t really know. I feel, in part, I may have to let go of this before the next project will reveal itself to me. And meanwhile, I have a lot of things going on. I’ll be continuing to be a volunteer adult literacy tutor. A few months ago I began taking Hindi lessons from a man almost 50 years my senior and I hope someday to speak well enough that I can feel comfortable speaking it on a trip to India – perhaps even a bike trip. And I really want to connect to my own community more – to work at the food co-op, to grow food in the community garden, to connect with my neighbours and friends. And when the inspiration hits, it may be time for another big project.
And as for Daegan and I, well, the greatest gift this project gave me was my connection with my son. I’d like to say that our 25 day journey last summer was a “once in a lifetime” experience, but hopefully it won’t be. We’ll still be traveling together – possibly by tandem bicycle again, possibly not. The destination and means of travel are to be determined.

Thank you all for your support – for making pledges, for sharing your homes with me, for inspiring me, and for letting me share my own journey with you.

A few years ago I got a first hand illustration of how local economy works. I was at my neighbourhood bike shop, paying for some repairs. As my debit payment cleared, the owner and I started talking and he began to tell me about how much he enjoyed eating at the cafe next door. This cafe next door serves locally-roasted coffee and locally-baked pastries. And at that moment I grasped why supporting your economy by buying locally matters so much.

Think of it like a water cycle. My money came from outside the province and was like rain bringing money into the small local reservoir of my bank account. Now I can choose what to do with that reservoir. I can order a bunch of things online, and pump it directly back out of the area. Or, I can buy locally and contribute to the local aquifer. The money I spent at the bike shop would flow to the cafe, nourishing its employees and flowing to their local vendors and to their employees, and possibly to some more local vendors. Up until this point I only saw money as something that went from point A (my pocket) to point B (someone else’s pocket). But this wasn’t true. At this point I had an image of an entire local area being “watered” by outside money and that money serving as many people as it could before eventually leaving the area to nourish other areas by paying for things we couldn’t get from here. Since then I’ve tried to be conscious of how we spend our money, choosing local options whenever I can.

“But Todd, this project is about Kindness. I know that supporting your neighbours is nice, but what does this have to do with kindness?

Pretty much everything. Money isn’t the only thing that works this way. Food webs have worked this way as long as there has been life, after all. And, I realized recently, kindness works this way as well.

Your kindness enriches those around you. Sharing it locally makes those around you happier, and those people distribute it and they make other people happier. One person’s kindness, properly multiplied, can change the world.

So where does the “Kindness Economy” start? With you, of course. Get out there, do something nice for someone and enrich your neighbourhood and world. And if someone is kind to you – pay it forward. With interest.

Just a quick note to let everyone know – for speedier posting of pledges they will now be posted directly to our Facebook group with the ticker updated here. If you haven’t already liked the page, now is a great time to do it.

And just a reminder – you can pledge as often as you like here, and $1 will be donated to the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation

Photo by Jay Cameron and used under Creative Commons License.