Thanking our school bus drivers!

The Angels of Kindness recently sent letters of appreciation to school bus drivers in the community. We wanted to express our thanks to them for the immensely important function they serve. School bus drivers have the awesome responsibility of delivering the most precious cargo to and from schools every day. Our letters will hopefully encourage them and let them know that they are respected and appreciated!

AOK gives FREE HUGS!!!

We had our first FREE HUGS activity on Saturday, October 24th at the Pingree Rd. train station in Crystal Lake. It was a chilly but wonderful experience. We were well received even by folks who chose to just "hug us verbally" from a distance. We were cool with that!

Our second FREE HUGS day was last Saturday, November 14 at the same train station. We had a great time hugging and having interesting conversations with people ranging from 8 years old to adults! Our experience with the Free Hugs is that many people really enjoy the fact that we're doing it and seem to appreciate the gesture even if they're too shy to step in for a hug.

Free Hugs... what a beautiful concept. Check out the link below to see how it all started!

UCCL's first Blood Drive a success

Unity Church of Crystal Lake had its first blood drive on Sunday, November 8th. We had 28 people attempt to give blood and 22 successful blood donations. The Angels of Kindness are hoping to make this an annual if not bi-annual activity.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who literally gave of themselves in a generous act of kindness.

UCCL Blood Drive coming this fall

The Angels of Kindness is sponsoring a blood drive on November 8 at the church. Appointments will be scheduled from 9 a.m. until approximately 1:30 p.m. and sign ups for appointment times will begin in a few weeks.

Giving blood is a simple and relatively painless way to make a big difference in the lives of others. Interestingly, 60% of the population is eligible to donate blood, yet fewer than 3% in Chicagoland actually donate! The following are important facts shared by LifeSource, the organization that will be conducting the blood drive:

- 4.5 million lives are saved each year by blood transfusion
- Someone needs blood every two seconds
- Females receive 53% of blood transfusions; males receive 47%

AOK is really hoping that UCCL and members of the community will show up BIG TIME to give blood on November 8th. Give the gift of life and look for sign ups starting in just a few weeks!

Giving blood is a kind thing to do!

Remember... you are love(d)

GREAT NEWS!!!

Our last AOK meeting on September 8th was spent assembling our new Good News booklets. These books are filled with stories of inspiration, encouragement or just plain GOOD NEWS. Thanks to an anonymous donation, we were able to make twenty copies of the book at Kinko's saving hours of time that would have been spent on a slower copy machine. Thank you anonymous donor!!

Twenty copies were brought to church on Sunday, 9/20 and 16 of them were taken by congregants to distribute to waiting rooms around the area. It is our sincere hope that people are uplifted by these stories. If this project goes well, we will continue to put together new, updated booklets after a few months and do it all again!

If I get feedback from anyone on where these booklets were placed or how they've been received, I'll be sure to put it on here!

Please remember... you are love(d)

Summer Do-ing's!

Our summer AOK activities involved writing letters to prisoners (again) and to teachers (again). This activity has proven to be quite rewarding to those of us writing the letters as well as those receiving them. We have received a number of responses from various inmates although getting a reply from them was never part of our intention. Nevertheless, the letters we've received from these gorgeous souls have been so moving. Following is the content of one of the letters we received after our initial letter writing... the card was hand made by the inmate himself and filled with beautiful artwork - the front read "Thank you so very much... God bless you my friend, A.O.K... and inside the card read:

My friend,

I'm so thankful for your words of encouragement which couldn't have come at a better time. Your words have left me in a state of much gratitude and humility. Thank you for caring...thank you for doing God's work. You are blessed with much love. Your work is surely a blessing from our God in Heaven. I hope you enjoy the card I made to show my greatness of your encouraging words. I shall one day understand why things are going as they've been... but as of now... the only thing I'm sure is that God is protecting and watching me. Dear friend, may God continue to bless you. Please feel free to write and share life again... Take care.

Obviously, receiving letters like this was encouragement for us to continue writing letters to other inmates. We are keenly aware that their value as human beings and as divine souls is no less than our own. This is an activity we will continue as well as writing to teachers again now that school is back in session!

Anyone interested in writing letters to teachers or inmates but unable to make it to AOK meetings, please contact me at randomkind@hotmail.com and I'll get you everything you need to write letters from home to either inmates or teachers. We use the church's return address on the letters so there should be no concern that anyone will have your personal information.

Kindness can change the world!

remember, You are love(d)

AOK writes letters to prisoners

On May 26, AOK wrote letters to inmates in prisons across the state of Illinois. We felt that it was important to reach out with a message of hope to individuals who quite possibly feel hopeless. We believe that what is true about one of us is true about ALL of us. Our message to the inmates was a reminder (perhaps for the first time in their conscious memory) of their Divinity. We told them of their magnificence, their potential. We encouraged forgiveness, both of themselves and of others. It is important to explore the idea that despite our mistakes, our core value does not change. We can live our lives without a conscious awareness of our Oneness with All That Is, but it doesn't change the truth that we are intimately, intricately and infinitely connected.

I am hoping to continue this practice of reaching out to prisoners from time to time. Those that participated were moved by the experience and we trust that our words of love and hope will provide a doorway through which the recipients of our letters can enter and explore their infinite potential.

Our next "regular", planning meeting will be on Tuesday, 6/9. We will continue to discuss ideas for future ways to unleash love and kindness on our community and world!!

Kindness rocks...

Please remember, you are Love(d)