St. Charles celebrating Random Acts of Kindness Week – Shaw Local
St. Charles residents are spreading a little extra love this week, volunteering to perform good deeds around the community as part of Random Acts of Kindness Week, presented by Random Acts Matter.
Random Acts Matter is a nonprofit organization founded in St. Charles in 2016 that believes no act of kindness is too small.
This is the seventh year of their Random Acts of Kindness Week initiative, which is a localized effort that was modeled around the nationally celebrated Random Acts of Kindness Day, which falls on Feb. 17 this year.
RAM Board President Michelle Buck said the initiative is not limited to volunteers in their organization. Every year, they invite St. Charles schools, churches, sports teams and businesses to participate, whether they want to help with RAM’s scheduled events or spread kindness in their own way.
Volunteers will spread care and compassion every day from Feb. 12 to 18, and RAM will accept volunteers and nominations through the end of the week. Anyone can nominate a community member to receive a random act of kindness through the RAM website, and teams of volunteers work to fulfill requests.
Buck said the organization was founded in a challenging time when there was a lot of anger in the community, and founder Jim Di Ciaula felt that the community could benefit from intentional acts of kindness and compassion.
“He founded the organization with a small group of people with the sole purpose of sharing kindness, care and compassion,” Buck said. “So we’ve been doing that ever since.”
On Monday, volunteers distributed chocolate bars with inspirational quotes, gift bags of candies and warm cups of coffee to random people around down.
On Tuesday, volunteers decorated rocks with messages of kindness and inspiration, and left them in random places for others to find. RAM volunteers also assembled and distributed treat bags to first responders.
They also introduced a new project this year called Kindness On The Go, where they donate treat bags and small gifts to community members working on the go, such as mail carriers, delivery drivers, sanitation workers and snowplow drivers.
On Wednesday, in honor of Valentines Day, volunteers handed out roses around town, and several downtown businesses participated by doing something special of their own for their patrons.
Thursday’s acts of kindness included giving baked goods to many community organizations including the St. Charles Fire Department, Lazarus House, the Municipal building and many more who were nominated. RAM also collected and donated food items to benefit local veterans.
On Friday, volunteers will be crafting and delivering cards and notes of kindness to local senior centers. Residents can volunteer to help distribute or can participate by popping a card in a senior neighbor’s mailbox.
Residents still can sign up to help with events throughout the weekend, including providing a warm breakfast for Lazarus House residents Saturday morning or handing out treats to strangers in local parks on Sunday. To view the schedule of events or to volunteer, visit RAM’s website.
All the random acts of kindness that aren’t targeted to a specific recipient are distributed randomly to community members around town.
There will also be an event Saturday night at Pollyanna Brewing downtown with live music, beer and food trucks. A portion of proceeds will benefit RAM.
Buck said the beauty of doing random acts of kindness is in the way you never know much how a small gesture can impact someone. She said they often receive letters after the week is over with stories of how much it meant to people who received a random act when they were going through a tough time in their life.
“A lot of what we do, we don’t know the ripple effect it has,” Buck said. “Kindness is powerful.”
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