okay!! here we go!! if you missed the blog where i explained RACK'ing... you might want to read it! but in a nutshell, RACK= Random Acts of Christmas Kindness
our family has one to do everyday until Christmas.
i found some RACK ideas on-line and made some up myself.
here's what we've done in the first SIX days!!!
DAY 1- leave a treat for our mail carrier
whew! we started our first day with a very simple one! randomly i swear! i had just done some baking for a cookie exchange so the timing was God given! we put some treats in a container and left them with a RACK note in our mailbox!
DAY 2- donate hats and gloves to our elementary school
one thing our "bigs"... lexi and brady, have learned is in our little community of Jimtown, all is not "equal"... Jimtown has a considerable amount of "poverty". lexi and brady are extremely sensitive children and are both saddened by this. this was a great task for us. first, we cleaned out our own stash of winter wear. i'm ashamed to admit we found enough Hats, Scarves, and Gloves/Mittens that we don't use, to fill an entire kitchen garbage bag!! those were our first donation. then mike went to walmart and bought 10 little girl hats & gloves. 10 little boy hats & gloves, 10 big girl hats & gloves, and 10 big boy hats & gloves.... that was our second donation.
DAY 3- pay on someones lay-away
this was a great one!! sireana went to our local walmart with $50 in hand. at the customer service desk, she quietly whispered to the walmart employee "my family is doing random acts of christmas kindness and i would like to pay off someones lay-away. can i do that?" the cashiers first reaction was a stunned face. then she said "yeah!". sireana explained she had $50 and she'd like to pay someones off entirely... the cashier found one for $35, but sireana said she'd like to use the entire $50. the cashier looked further and found one for $50.27. PERFECT! sireana paid it off and left a RACK card for the person! they will go in expecting to make a payment, only to find it's paid in full! :)
DAY 4- deliver a tree to a stranger.
here's brady looking for the perfect tree. we did deliver one... to the wrong house!! we received a request for a Christmas tree via our craigslist ad... and they gave us their address... which we could NOT find!!! so we left it on what we THOUGHT was their porch and sent them an email. thankfully, they were able to go get it! we were close... right across the street!!!
here's brady looking for the perfect tree. we did deliver one... to the wrong house!! we received a request for a Christmas tree via our craigslist ad... and they gave us their address... which we could NOT find!!! so we left it on what we THOUGHT was their porch and sent them an email. thankfully, they were able to go get it! we were close... right across the street!!!
DAY 5- Send Christmas cards to Military Men & Women
brady's note melted my heart :) we all wrote personal notes in the cards... and we sent them to an organization in Maryland that i found on-line
DAY 6- Hand out gift cards to random people...
our assignment was to hand out gift cards to random strangers.... so armed with $60, we headed to our local Walmart. we chose 12 gift cards and loaded them up with $5 each. then we headed out into the store. we decided to hit different departments and randomly pick people. the first couple of people looked slightly stunned. all we did was walk up to them, hand them a card and RACK slip and say "we are doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. Here's a $5 gift card". A young lady in the baby department was very thankful :) . a young family in the shoe department definitely won the "appreciative award"! the look on their faces was priceless! we did have one guy say no to brady :( i'm not sure i understand that... but oh well... we tried to give to a variety of people: an older couple, a mom struggling with a crying child in the toy isle, a young family, single men, single moms, single women... young and old... all ethnicity's... IT WAS AWESOME!!!
would we do it again?? ABSOLUTELY!!! only next time... with more money!!
EXTRA RANDOMness....
a friend of ours seemed to need some holiday cheer, so we delivered crafts for her to make (she LOVES crafts!!) and some goodies to enjoy!
and....
we "adopted" a family of five from CAPS and bought them presents...
Sireana delivered 2 big bags of groceries to a family in need...
Brady & Lexi bought toys for two little boys in Mishawaka...
Sireana gave a Pack-N-Play to a single mom with no bed for her 10 month old...
My dad Jim gave firewood to a family who desperately need to stay warm....
My dad Jim is cleaning up the yard of a man who's in a wheelchair after an auto accident...
We gave two packs of Goodnights to a little boy with a congenital bladder condition...
Lexi RACK'd her great grandma by stopping on the spur of the moment to give her a hug :) ...
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things we want to do differently next year...
next year, we probably won't "adopt" a family...
place our craigslist ad alittle earlier and try to help more people...
instead of one person coming up with all 24 RACK ideas, everyone contribute four ideas...
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