Starting back in September, the anonymous group of Hundreds & Thousands have been doing amazing random acts of kindness in our city. If you’ve followed their secret activities, you know that the level of generosity and the element of surprise has been nothing short of amazing. Some of their surprises were done on their own, while others involved a little bit of help from local groups…all while remaining completely anonymous. Then they decided to turn the tables.
Back in March, Hundreds & Thousands sent a press release announcing the “Hundreds & Thousands Week: The Chestermere Challenge” that would be taking place May 17th – May 23rd. The challenge was thrown out to groups, organizations, families & individuals to do a random act of kindness during this last week and then to email the details to Hundreds & Thousands. Three prizes of $500 will be awarded to the three most inspiring stories.
As the week got closer, Hundreds & Thousands began receiving emails of what some groups were planning for their RAK (Random Act of Kindness). The Anchor was even tipped off to a few that Hundreds & Thousands didn’t know about. RAK’s are quite often done anonymously and without recognition. There are likely some RAK’s that occurred last week that we were not made aware of, but here are some great stories of the RAK’s that we were informed of.
The generous folks of Mighty Neighbourly decided to surprise the United FC Soccer Association on Tuesday May 18th. Jody Castle explained, “We had decided to approach the United FC Soccer association because they are a large group in this town that work very hard year round to provide great soccer programs for the kids. We felt that approaching the volunteers on Tuesday night during their house league as it also gave us a chance to show the parents how much we appreciate them too and give the parents a change to show their appreciation. We showed up at the field with a group of 6 volunteers, our banner, a megaphone and gifts for the coaches. The coaches were naturally shy and didn’t want to be appreciated for their work, but it was great to see them come up to us and receive their gifts with gratitude. The parents got involved with cheers and applause from the sidelines”.
Chestermere Public Library got on board by surprising those that checked out books and may have had overdue book fees. Upon taking their books up to the counter to check out, the generous library staff informed the customer that their overdue book fees had been anonymously paid off.
The Chestermere Women’s Group started planning their RAK almost as soon as the challenge was announced. This group of ladies obtained 300 long stemmed roses and 300 bedding plants and tied inspirational quotes and statements of kindness to each one. On Wednesday May 19th, the ladies spent the afternoon outside of Safeway and the evening at various local businesses handing out the flowers. Some recipients couldn’t believe that this was just a simple act of kindness while others were brought to tears. The ladies wanted to say a special thank you to Cobblestone and Safeway for donating the flowers and plants.
Wednesday also had three sweet young ladies delivering cookies around the City of Chestermere. Sarah Robinson tipped us off letting us know that her daughters Madison, Piper and Ella had “dropped cookies off at Lifepath Wellness, the Library, Town Hall (and they even got to stop in at the meeting), Parentlink, the police station, and we dropped off a batch for a special someone at mighty neighbourly”. They also said that they were already thinking of what their next act of kindness would be.
If you happened to be doing your grocery shopping on Wednesday evening, the youth of SHOUT (members of Synergy) split up into two groups and were dispatched to Safeway and No Frills. Once the groups were in place, some of the kids stayed outside handing out coins for patrons to use in their shopping carts and also asking if they could help load groceries into cars for people. Some of the kids headed inside where they could be found asking customers if they would like help bagging their groceries, loading them into their carts and even helping the staff out by returning items to shelves and cleaning off the check-out stations. The kids could also be found handing out chocolates to customers as they entered and exited the grocery stores.
A few other children decided to kick off their own RAK by way of delivering sweets to their neighbours. Jennifer Massig told us “The girls and I picked up a bunch of their favourite candy from Shoppers and then Anna and Autumn invited the neighbours – Joshua, Micah and Malachai Stochert to stuff treat bags for the neighbourhood. We made over 60 and included a note that read “We find it great treat to have you as a neighbour!”. We also added the dates for our Springmere Carnival and Block Party on the back. All 5 kids knocked on doors or hung them on doorknobs along Springmere Way and Springmere Link. We thought the kids would be nervous, but they LOVED it!! Meeting the neighbours that were new and super excited to give the little gift to the ones they already knew”. Massig also let us know that about a month ago, Anna and Autumn had also done a similar RAK by delivering sunflower seeds to a few neighbours around their home.
Thursday lunch time brought a great surprise to the folks at Chestermere Public Works when the crew from Lakeridge Community Church decided to treat them to lunch. Before the hardworking folks that take such great care of our city came back to the public works yard for lunch, the generous people from Lakeridge had set up a BBQ and had prepared lunch for all the public works staff. As the public works staff came into their lunchroom, they were completed surprised to see a spread of burgers with all the fixings, side dishes and desserts waiting for them.
Friday evening if you had decided to go to Boston Pizza for dinner or drinks, you may have seen this go down. A few of the members of Expedia CruiseShip Centres here in Chestermere, quietly entered Boston Pizza on Friday evening, took a seat and watched the patrons looking for two tables/groups to give their surprise to. Vicky Barzey, one of the Owners of Expedia, told us, “We made 2 boxes of Expedia stuff – luggage tags, bags, DVD and popcorn and then put in a $20 gift card from Boston Pizza. We ended up finding two couples – one in the lounge and one in the restaurant – they were blown away”.
I touched base with the folks at Hundreds & Thousands to get their reaction once the week had wrapped up. Here’s what they had to say, “We have enjoyed so much of this past week. Mostly because so many people came up with great ideas and encouraged so many. It has been our hope that this experience would be enjoyable for everyone involved. Both those who received but also those who were doing the acts. It is our hope that many have seen how easy it is to make Chestermere a great community. We have not met to decide who the winners are but will plan to decide this week. We are hoping for a few more pictures and stories from some of the people doing the Random acts of kindness”.
I asked the group if this challenge to Chestermere was meant to be the finale to their initiative.”We may take a couple of months off for the summer but have already starting considering some things for next year. In other words we are not planning to stop!! Not only because this has been so well received but because we have enjoyed it so much personally”.
So there you have it Chestermere!They’re not done with us yet.If you were a part of a Random Act of Kindness and you were not mentioned above, or you have not submitted your RAK to Hundreds & Thousands, it’s not too late.
