I am so incredibly happy to have partnered with Life of Dad and KIND for this promotion.
I contend that much of my personal success in life can be directly attributed to kindness and to gratitude. I asked this of a gigantic corporation while my entire family was away on an insane press trip a couple years ago. Basically, I wanted to know, “why me?”. The answer was something along the lines of, “because you’re a nice guy and we like you.”
While my wife will rightly tell you I’m a grump and a bit of an a-hole too much of the time, I also try to treat people kindly and show overwhelming amount of honest gratitude for those who do the same for me and/or my family and friends. I strongly believe (and received that bit of faraway confirmation that) this simple personality trait has brands, PR reps, and others coming back to work with a guy who doesn’t have the biggest reach and doesn’t influence the biggest crowd. I just try to do decent creative work and I treat people really well 100% of the time. I’m kind and I’m grateful. It’s simple and doesn’t cost a penny. How Kind Are You?
This holiday season, I’ve partnered with my good friends at Life of Dad and the tasty healthy treat makers at KIND to literally distribute kindness to those I witness being kind. Tasty, tasty kindness. Because being kind is awesome.
The first batch of #KindAwesome cards I’m giving out are going to Vanguard employees who are spearheading this year’s Sponsor A Child campaign collection site on Giving Tuesday. We once again participated in this effort to take on the Christmas shopping for underprivileged Philly-area kids, receiving names, ages, sizes, interests and ‘biggest wishes’, then ponying up our own money, time and energy (possibly the hardest part) to shop, buy, wrap, label and deliver the bundles to this central repository at my wife’s place of work. A place which is like Santa’s workshop if the elves were generous Vanguard employees and their families. It is a beautiful thing to behold. A giant room of kindness wrapped in colorful paper and sparkly bows.
We were fortunate enough to be able to afford to sponsor 4 children total this year, with one of them, a 10 month old baby named Nathaniel, being the child my two daughters pooled together $100 of their own money for. They picked out a few outfits, a puffy red jacket (his favorite color), and two VTech toys we hope Nathaniel loves — a lights & sounds walker and a Go Go! activity set.
The Vanguard employees who donated many lunch hours and breaks to collect and organize gifts for over 500 children are being very kind and are so very awesome. They deserve to be noticed and so I’m sending few #KindAwesome cards in with my wife to distribute — a small gesture to let them know that their kindness has not gone unnoticed. They will each get a tasty KIND care package as a result.
The rest of my #KindAwesome cards are coming with me this week to sporting events in Columbus OH, East Lansing and Detroit MI. Now, you may think sporting events aren’t fertile ground for kindness but as the father of a daughter who keeps score during games using her own invented Good Sportsmanship points, I know that I will find plenty of folks holding doors for handicap fans, treating their friends to a hot dog and, in general, making fun times even more fun with their simple, kind acts.
You can send someone a #KindAwesome card too when you spot them being kind online and in real life. Visit KIND’s How Kind Of You micro site to get started sharing KIND Snacks with the kindest people you know.
Finally, join KIND and Life of Dad on Wednesday night for the fun #KindAwesome Twitter Party. You may win some tasty treats but you’ll definitely come away knowing the world is a kinder place than the talking heads on TV and internet comment sections would have you believe.
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