Random Acts of Kindness

Stumbling upon #ophumanangels on Steemit showed me that I was a member of their community

Ever since I decided to venture down the road of possibly starting a Non-profit for foster chikdren, I have made sure to start doing alot of research and homework how to make my dream a reality. While going down a deep, long, block chain hole on steemit, I discovered #ophumanangels. This group stands for Operation Human Angels, a group dedicated to practicing random acts of kindness in our local communities. I continued reading story after Story, scene one random act after another, consisting of amazing people that wanted to change someone’s day. I started thinking back about what I have done to do the same in my local community. That’s when I remembered the Snowman.

I currently work with a company that supports veterans experiencing homelessness. After Thanksgiving, I was hearing stories from my veterans about how there was some heartache involved with Christmas right around the corner. My veterans did not have the ability and funds to be able to travel to see their loved ones. I wanted to change their day for the better, and I started with a small gesture.

Pictured above: My office door. A string of lights made from string I found in storage, and post its.

Pictured above: snowflakes and a tree made out of post its, printer paper, and cotton balls, with the string I found.

Every week, veterans that are assigned to me sit in a case conferencing meeting to explore what we can do to find them stable income and stable housing. Together over the course of a year, we work together to address issues that led to homelessness, and help those that are in crisis. I wanted to cheer up my veterans when they would come to the case conference in meetings with me, as they can be very stressful at times. Sometimes the pressure to move forward is too much for a veteran experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. This definitely raised the morale in the building.

As I was receiving positive feedback over the week from my veterans, I wanted to do even more. Every week we have a mandatory meeting where all the veterans in the program come together to talk about resources in the community. We meet in a basement conference room, and it’s normally a dry Monday morning meeting or everybody is still sleepwalking. I wanted the veterans to feel like Christmas was being brought to them. I wanted them to experience a little holiday spirit. So I arranged for a surprise for when they came down for the meeting. This is where the Snowman comes in.

Pictured above: a snowman I made out of a pillar in the meeting room. I found a knit hat, scarf and booties in a storage room. I also found construction paper to make his face, and gift tissue paper to make his fluffy body.

I also decided it was very important to bring the North Pole to the veterans.

Pictured above: Old decorations that I found in storage. One of my veterans helped me complete the North Pole in an effort to practice her newly found sobriety. She took great pleasure in contributing to the decorations.

Pictured above: a second Post its Christmas tree I made with the help of a Peer Support Specialist. He is a new graduate from the program that has found stability, and appreciated giving back to the program and participants in which he was a participant himself.

I never intended to document this random acts of kindness with others outside of the program. Now that I have found that their are others that want to motivate our fellow neighbors to contribute, I want to be a part of the cause that helps!

Thank you for reading this, and I hope your holidays were very merry and bright!