Honoring People that Live with Kindness in their Hearts
Caring Heart Awards
Do You Believe What You Wear?
What does your t-shirt say about you? T-shirts logos and sayings are your message to the world. T-shirts herald many messages from sports teams, vacation locations, cartoon characters, movies (e.g. Star Wars) activities you love, restaurants (e.g.Hard Rock Cafe), designer’s logos or designer names. There are also humorous sayings, positive sayings and way too many negative shirts. Have you ever thought about what your T-shirt says about you? Well, Shawn Aswad has. She has added another category, compliments. She says she's hoping to change the world, one compliment at a time, with her line of t-shirts. She founded Complimentees last July on the hopes and dreams that positive words can change lives. That a positive message read, can bring a smile and make a difference in one life in that one moment. But with greater hopes that if we take that one and multiply it by thousands, all over the world, the change can be epic. As Shawn states, “We can never have enough kindness in the world, especially now in its current state. But it goes farther than kindness and is about living a positive lifestyle. If we can rid the negativity, the kindness will come! Not everyone has the courage to go up to strangers and say something positive...but everyone can wear it.” Examples of the compliments on her t-shirts include, “You Are You Powerfully Brave,” “You Look Fantastic” and “You Are a Superhero”. My favorite is “You Make Me Smile.” The most popular is, “You Make Me Want to Dance.” Abraham Lincoln knew the power of a compliment. Lincoln wrote in a letter to Thurlow Weed in 1865, as noted in Donald Phillips’ book, Lincoln on Leadership. The passage says, “As a lawyer in Springfield the effect of his compliments on others provided a powerful motivational force in getting things accomplished.” Shawn believes in complimenting others whenever she can. How about you? How many compliments did [...]
She Opened Her Eyes and Knew She Had to Help
“You can close your eyes to the things you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to the things you don't want to feel.” Johnny Depp Have you ever seen something so unthinkable, you wished it could be erased from your mind as if you never saw it? Well, that is exactly the first reaction of second grade teacher, Krysten Case, when she heard about the human trafficking happening in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. In that Ohio County approximately 1,200 women are arrested each year for solicitation. Over 92% are identified as victims of human sex trafficking — first trafficked for sex at the average age of 13 through force, fraud, or coercion. It is easy to close our eyes but it is happening all over our country, in every state. At first, Krysten spent a lot of time trying to forget about human trafficking for about a year, but various things about it kept popping back up into her world until she knew she had to open her eyes. Many of us when we hear about terrible situations we close our eyes, but not Krysten. She researched to find out the facts and was deeply moved by the stories of the women enslaved by human trafficking. She had not realized human trafficking was happening in the United States, we tend to think of it as an over-seas problem. She also learned about Freedom ala Cart. Krysten states, “This non-profit organization helps the human trafficking survivors restore, rebuild, and begin their lives as the women they were made to be. The work they do is incredible. No one else has the model they have...walking women from their very first step into CATCH court, all the way to gaining their permanent independence, establishing employment, and reuniting with their children and families.” (CATCH stands for Changing Actions To Change Habits. It’s a special docket court created by Judge [...]
Does Your Voice Smile?
There are some people you can just hear the smile in their voice. I hear the smile in Andrea’s voice. Andrea is my granddaughter’s piano teacher. She is an amazing teacher, who relates well to children. She sees the wonder and positivity in everything; her excitement is contagious. Andrea also relates well to adults. I will never forget her kindness. I took Ally to her piano lesson. Unfortunately, when we were ready to leave to my dismay my car would not turn over; the battery was dead. It was a dreadfully cold night of 10 degrees with a chilly wind. Andrea said, “No problem! I can jump your car!” Andrea missed her appointment, pushed my car so she could get her car in position and successfully jumped my car. She also made sure my phone was adequately charged, in case I didn’t make it home. All this was amazing enough, but she perceived this not as inconvenience but as an adventure. I often feel guilty when I inconvenience others but Andrea willingness was unbelievable, she made me feel like we were having a fun ladies night. The next time I am able to support and help someone, I will remember that frigid night when Andrea voice warmed my heart. I hope a missed appointment, chilly fingers or any other inconvenience will not show in my voice. I hope my willingness will come across crystal clear. By the way, I now know how to jump a car; Andrea is a great teacher! I award Andrea with this month’s Caring Heart Award for her willingness and kindness. , Staying in Touch: Barbara Hirsh can be reached at info@LiveKinder.com I love hearing your kindness stories. Please sign-up for almost weekly kindness message at www.LiveKinder.com or follow LiveKinder on Facebook! Do you know someone that deserves a Caring Heart award? [...]
You Can Change the World!
I believe we all can change the world. Of course, we are not all destined to be Mother Teresa, but I do believe, we all are put on the earth to help and love one another in our own way. That’s what Caring Heart Winners do; they change their piece of the world. A good example is this month’s Caring Heart Winner, Nina Fournier. Nina with her husband, Al, founded Janie’s Dolly’s for Recovery, a non-profit organization. Janie’s Dolly’s was conceived in April 2017. The first doll was given away in May 2017. Unfortunately, Al passed away last September. Nina’s grief over Al’s passing has been made more tolerable by knowing she is carrying out a dream that he envisioned. Nina said it has impacted all aspects of her life; most notably, her heart. Janie’s Dolly’s donates an 18 inch doll with a scrub outfit complete with a stethoscope and also a party dress to girls that are in the hospital for extended medical treatments. Some of the girls had horrific dog bites, brain tumors, extreme burns, or chronic eye treatments; what they all have in common was they all needed something to smile about. Nina’s mission is to bring a smile to seriously ill girls, to let them forget their troubles while they play with their dolls. What I find endearing about Nina is she uses her talents and passion to be kinder to others, to make a small piece of the world a better place. What a better world we would have if we all did more kind acts. Even though, we are not all destined to be Mother Teresa, we can all change someone’s world through our talents. If all you can do today is to support those that want to change the world, that is enough for today. At the very least, go support Nina’s mission by “liking” and “following” her face book page, [...]
When You Are Blessed, You Should Bless
I have had many great bosses over my career and Peggy was one of them. We bonded by being female in a male dominated engineering company. I admire many things about Peggy, one of them is she never complained about people and let me tell you there were many she could have complained about. The second reason I admire Peggy is she lives her religious convictions. Peggy's favorite charity is Fellowship Housing. (Click here to find out more.) This is a wonderful charity that is fighting homelessness and poverty, one single mom at a time.. Their mission is to empower single moms by taking an intensive two-year program that takes them from the verge of homelessness to being confident, independent and financially stable. Fellowship housing exemplifies the proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime". To modify for fellowship housing's mission, it would read, Give a mom money your feed her family for a day, but give her financial skills you change her children's life forever.. Peggy and David (Peggy's husband) are Investor Property Partners with Fellowship Housing. They have bought not one, but four town homes that they have fixed up and are currently occupied by single moms and their children. Rather than renting out the town homes at market price, they rent it to a Fellowship Housing mom at a reduced rate. Peggy and David believe when you are blessed you bless others. One of the furnaces broke in one of the town homes on the coldest winter day, Peggy made sure someone was available to fix it. She was at the home and without even blinking an eye gave the HVAC man her credit card. She not only paid the $700 bill but gave a prayer of thanksgiving that she was able to do so. She was [...]