We hope you missed us as much as we’ve missed you!
The Infinite Smile Project (ISP) is once again partnering with the The Kindness Offensive (TKO) Club to spread as much kindness as possible—starting with you! We are so excited to share our kindness offensive inspirations and strategies with you, and we truly hope to inspire you all (even just a little bit) to start spreading kindness today.
So, What’s Club TKO?
Club TKO, U.S.A. first popped up in an Orange County middle school as a way to spread kindness and inclusivity throughout school campuses and their surrounding communities. Club TKO Ambassadors used initiative and leadership skills to present and enact their own plans on how to best build kindness in the community. For more information on Club TKO’s beginnings in the U.S.A. and how they impacted people for the better, please check out our previous posts on the Club TKO’s Beginnings as The First TKO Club in the U.S. or on Club Member Testimonials from 2020. All three hyperlinked stories are definitely worth a read.
When the COVID-19 Pandemic halted lives worldwide in 2020, Club TKO halted too. However, our passion for kindness and the need to combat this world’s craziness with the power of kindness certainly did not halt at all. Founding members Adrianna and Racquel are more ready than ever to come back swinging with kindness at the high school level!
Our Inspiration
But, first, a bit on where we draw from. The Kindness Offensive started in London, UK, and is known as the world’s largest creators of Random Acts of Kindness. What started as simple phone calls asking for donations for the better good swelled into a much bigger kindness offensive, partnering with all members of all different communities to better lives big and small. Adrianna and Racquel resonate with this message, and have always tried to exemplify kindness in their own lives. The TKO Club is just their way of inspiring you all too!
Our Focus
Adrianna and Racquel not only want to come back with kindness, but also with a purpose. This time around, they are excited to announce quarterly focuses for which they will direct their aid specifically. This quarter, their special focus is on domestic violence shelters. To start us off, we invite you to join us in supporting the following organization:
- Laura’s House, a shelter intent upon helping victims of domestic violence with greater focus on ending the cycle of violence
Remember, even the smallest acts can make the biggest impacts, so don’t let your own constraints limit your givingness. From item donations to cards to money, anything can make a difference.
I’m Sold, How do I Start My Own Kindness Offensive?
Adrianna and Racquel founders Club TKO, U.S.A.’s ideals with the mission to encourage others to follow in their footsteps. If a TKO Club sounds like the perfect addition to your own community—from schools to sports to neighborhood kids—then we invite you to reference our Club TKO Starter Kit as the blueprint for your very own path to being on the kindness offensive.
However, whether you are working on starting up a club or simply unable to create one, your kindness impact does not just depend on an organization—kindness simply needs your actions to make an impact. The Club TKO Starter Kit has some great kindness activity ideas, including our “Compliment Rose” activity, that you could do all on your own, no club needed. The above Laura’s House links also do not depend on the might of a club—it just takes one person to go through their closet, rooms, bookshelves, and donate the items the shelter needs. Kindness is smiling at strangers, holding doors, talking to the lonely kid, donating items, sticking up for yourself, and so much more. If nothing else, all we hope for is that you start intentionally adding kindness to your day-to-day lives. The more people who do that, the better we can all leave a stamp of kindness on our communities.
Please continue reading our bonus blog post regarding my own defining moment of kindness and how it inspires me to be kind every day. I hope my sentiments will lead you to reflect on your own defining moments of kindness, inspiring you to take some of the actions we detailed in the above paragraph. Happy reading!
Defining Moments of Kindness and their Lasting Impacts
Those unexpected moments of kindness are the ones that really stick with you—those times and places you don’t expect it, but the kindness overpowers anything else. For me, my brother Connor’s sixth birthday party is my defining moment of kindness.
I still remember how it happened. My mom had just picked me and my younger brother up from school on some cold January day, and on the drive home she started asking my brother about his upcoming birthday party. Traditionally, Connor had train or cars or superhero themed parties, with tons of gifts and vanilla—always vanilla—cake. I didn’t really have an expectation for what he would want, but I certainly did not expect his answer.
“I don’t really want a party this year. Can we just donate to CHOC, instead?”
That was what my brother wanted. Not gifts or even Thomas the Tank Engine party favors. Just to do something kind for the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
Admittedly, I couldn’t quite understand why Connor would want such a thing. I was already planning my ninth birthday for the next Fall (at the time, I was really into the spa, so I wanted something with that). My parents understood, though, and were happy to accommodate my brother’s wish. I am so glad they did, because his sixth birthday is pivotal in both his life and mine.
In the end, Connor did have a train birthday party, complete with Thomas themed everything and vanilla cake. No gifts, though. Instead, he asked that people donate to CHOC. From my parents to extended family to his friends, everyone gave something. He made a difference, and it made him feel good; seeing that made me realize just how big his actions were.
I still think about Connor’s sixth birthday. It reminds me that there is no age limit nor cap on kindness. From that moment on, I became intentful with how I incorporated kindness into my life. I volunteer at organizations dear to my heart, like the cat shelter at my school or teaching dance camp for underprivileged kids. I also interact with kindness always, no matter my mood or the person. My hope is that my brother’s story can have the same effect for others, the same reminder of how easy it is for anyone to be kind.
I encourage you to talk to your kids about a donation birthday party—it is such an easy way to make an impact, and it will stick with you for the years to come. Just explain to your child how grateful your child should be for what they have, how others don’t have as much, and how big of a difference they can make by their actions. It can even be as simple as donating one gift. Anything works as long as it is something.
For more information on a donation birthday party, please refer to our past blog post on the topic, entitled “‘Happy Birthday, Now Let’s Donate All Your Presents!’|Are We Mean Parents? Nope.” It offers a great overview of exactly how to approach this idea with your children. And, please, don’t be scared! Your child’s capacity for kindness may just surprise you.
Of course, kindness doesn’t mean you have to donate your birthday party to others. Kindness is far too grand to be trapped in a binary system like that. Hold that door for the mom with her hands full of groceries, smile at the kid frowning, compliment the friend when you like their shirt. Kindness is easy, you just have to enact it in your everyday life.
In the spirit of kindness, we invite you to share your own defining moment of kindness with us. You can do so at our Moments of Kindness Survey, we will showcase our favorite responses on our September Newsletter next month. Help us keep the cycle of kindness going, you never know if your story may just become someone else’s defining moment of kindness.
With kindness and warmth,
Maddie
