May 17th – 23rd was an exciting week as several random acts of kindness popped up all over town after the cleaver Hundreds & Thousands group threw out a challenge to Chestermere that turned the RAK tables on us. As the week of RAK (random acts of kindness) wrapped up, the anonymous group had not yet picked their winners, but all that changed this week.
On Thursday May 28th, an email came to me stating that the winners had been selected and that they had chosen me to inform the winners and deliver the prizes. It was with great excitement that I accepted this task and could not wait to find out who the winners were. However, it was quickly realized that how would they get the prizes to me without giving up their identity….hmmmm…. So, I replied to them alerting them that on Friday May 29th, my home would be unoccupied for about a 90 minute window and there was a secure location they could leave their prizes. Without receiving a firm yes or no to that plan, I headed out to my assignments this past Friday and when I returned, wouldn’t you know it… in the spot we had decided, there was a simple brown envelope with my name written on it. Like a kid at Christmas, I tore the envelope open and what I found brought me to tears. The following letter was in the envelope, along with 4 while envelopes.
“We had a great week watching our city share kindness as they surprised many random people. Whether it was students giving out chocolates or anonymous people paying for someone’s supper, our city showed what we are made of. As we decide who should receive the prize money, we thought about splitting up the money to give to multiple parties because we really believe everyone deserves it. But we also want to stay true to our word and have decided to select 3 recipients:
In no particular order:
• The Chestermere Women’s Group – lead by Morgan Matheson were not only the first to contact us but also developed a great plan to encourage women in our city. Together her group demonstrated community spirit, and a thoughtful play to surprise other women. Together with her team and several donations they have our approximately 670 flowers with awesome little notes of encouragement. We are pleased to encourage this type of thing and hope you continue to find ways to encourage others.
• Mighty Neighbourly lead by Jody Castle were also very thoughtful in developing their plan. They along with their team of volunteers stormed the fields of Prairie Waters School last Tuesday night to deliver a special message to all the volunteer soccer, and baseball coaches. Some 60 volunteers received Starbucks cards to enjoy their favourite beverage. We are pleased to award them with some cash to continue the great work they do welcoming people to our city.
• Our last award goes to one of the smallest teams, not only in number but also in overall size. Sarah Robinson and her three adorable kids Madison, Piper and Ella dropped cookies off at Lifepath Wellness, the Library, City Hall (even got to stop a meeting in progress), Parentlink, the police station, they also dropped off a batch for a special someone at Mighty Neighbourly. They are receiving this award because they demonstrated that even the smallest people can do the simplest Act of Kindness and make our city a great place for others to live. We are hopeful that this money gets used for more cookies but they can do with it what they please. In the great words of Cookie Monster himself “Me want more cookie, Me must have more COOKIE!!’
There have been so many great things this week some that we know about and some we didn’t hear about. But honourable mentions go to: Synergy, Lake Ridge Community Church, Chestermere Library, Sarah Papke (St Gabriel and Our Lady of Wisdom), Jen Massig, Expeida CruiseShip Centres and the countless anonymous people who brought strangers supper and coffees. We are very excited about what we have witnessed and are looking forward to next year. If you have a great idea you want us to think about or you want to do one yourselves, feel free to email us and we will see what we can do – andthousands@gmail.com
In addition to all of the great Acts of Kindness which went on in our city last week, we were also hit with the difficult news of a house fire which effected two families and countless neighbours. Our hearts go out to those families this week as they are undoubtedly trying to figure out how to move forward. Money doesn’t do what people can in terms of caring but we would like to help out. With that in mind we will be making a donation of $1000 towards the families’ effect through legup.ca
Anonymously yours
HundredsandThousands”
Upon reading the letter, I quickly contacted all three winners and it was laughter and tears all around!
On Sunday May 31st, I visited each of the winners, delivered their prize money and asked them about how they were going to be spending their prize money.
The Chestermere Women’s Group has decided to contact Chestermere Community Services and those that organize the Christmas With Dignity program and find a family or two that are in need of some financial help.
Mighty Neighbourly will be using their prize money to continue to develop their initiative of welcoming people to our city.
As for the Robinson girls, they have decided to each put $75 in their RESPs and the rest they will be using to perform surprise RAK’s through Chestermere and will be enlisting some of their friends to put these plans in motion.
Whether you got involved in the RAK Challenge Week or have been a recipient of an act of kindness, the hope is always that it gets paid forward. The Hundreds & Thousands group have inspired a city of generous people and let’s make them proud and keep it going!
