Time for a double dose of 12 Months of Kindness!  


In February, we decided to help a teacher through Donor’s Choose.  With so many worthy recipients, how could we ever pick just one?  As you know, my great-grandmother (the inspiration behind this blog) was a passionate school teacher and had a love for learning that spanned her entire life.  I like to think that she passed that love for reading on to me as well.  So when I read this description, I knew it was the perfect choice for our donation:   

We are a high poverty area and many of my students live in very challenging circumstances, with little or no access to educational materials at home. They develop an appreciation very quickly of their school library and all that it offers them, including excellent children’s literature. They soon love to read because of this easy access to a wide variety of wonderful books! But sadly, some of our most loved stories are now worn, torn, and taped. They must be discarded because they are falling apart. Please help us replace them AND add newly released Caldecott winners to our collection! Our students deserve to read and enjoy these books in the sparkling way that their gifted authors and illustrators intended.

Strega Nona, Corduroy, Go Dog Go, The Very Hungry Caterpillar…these are all classic books that my children have read and love.  It breaks my heart that other children may not have the same opportunity.  We donated to Ms. Daugherty’s cause and I hope you do too!  The last time I checked, she still needs $520 to reach her goal.

This month, we decided to support our food bank.  Do you follow Aimee on Instagram?  Months ago, she posted a photo of a handful of canned goods with this description: 

Y’all.  I am seeking to build better habits in a few areas.  I have a new goal to buy 10 canned goods and a 5lb bag of rice every week at Aldi and then drop it off at our local food bank…I don’t want to simply live with good intentions but with real patterns of generosity and community care.  I desire for my children to build habits of service and care and that modeling begins right here with me.

So powerful, right?  I recently remembered that photo and we are hoping to start something similar with our own family.  Even on a tight budget, it’s still possible to add a few things to our cart and help others in the process. 

Inspired by my friend Tab, I am committing to 12 Months of Kindness again in 2015.  Hopefully, I’ll be better about posting each month!  

For January, we decided to tell our mailman how much we appreciate him.  He works SO hard!  Between picking up Big White Farmhouse orders and dropping off Amazon purchases, our mailman gets out of his warm truck a lot for us.  Can you imagine such a job, especially in the winter?  

Brr.

So the kids and I got to work creating a warm care package, which included:

This gift was easy and didn’t cost much to put together.  We found the gloves for $4 and the hand and foot warmers were in the Dollar Spot at Target.  Add in a little cash so he can grab a coffee and you’re done!    

What act of kindness will you do this month?  I’ve created a Pinterest board to help with ideas and inspiration.  Will you join me?  Tell me your Pinterest name in the comments and I can add you as a contributor.  Let’s spread joy this year together.

For February’s Kindness, we purchased food for the local food pantry.  (More info about the 12 Months of Kindness can be found in this post.)  Our church has a big collection bin, so we’ll be dropping our donation off on Sunday.  

Going into this, I was very conflicted.  My little family has been making drastic changes in the way we eat.  Very little processed food, lots of fruits and veggies, etc etc.  So when I thought about our possible donations, I didn’t want to buy…well, crap. I feel like everyone should eat the most nutritious food available, even in financial difficulty.  So that was my thought process when we went to the grocery store. 


The pictures above show what we accumulated to donate throughout the entire month.  Each week, we allocated a certain amount for donations, sometimes just $5.  I tried to find things that had nutritional value and would be filling.  Sometimes we found a sale, which was awesome!  


Last weekend, we let the boys pick out a few items to donate.  We’ve talked to them about how fortunate we are that our daddy has a great job, but some families are going through a rough time and they need help with their groceries.  They totally get it.  They also know that we are going to drop them off at the church and then Father (not sure if that’s true, but we’ll just let them think that!) will bring it to the food pantry to give to the families.    


For memory keeping’s sake, I want to add that the boys specifically picked out the mac and cheese and the pasta, two items they love.   

One last note: the most expensive item we purchased was the Sunbutter.  However, after reading this post, I knew it was something we needed to do.  


I guess the point of this post is to show that everybody can give back!  Buy a can of beans for you and a can to donate.  Buy three, get one free?  Put the free one in the donation pile.  Little actions really add up.