A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - D is for Donating Dollars

A major part of B(e) Kind 366 is the fundraising campaign. Every day in 2016 I am doing an act of kindness - random or otherwise - and taking on additional challenges in an effort to raise some funds for three charitable organizations and spread kindness far and wide!

Blogging A to Z is my April challenge! In 2015 I blogged A-Z with lists of potential acts of kindness. Here is last year's D List: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "D."

Today I decided to DONATE for my act of kindness. 

A month ago the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, also known as Cross Lake First Nation, declared a state of emergency after 140 suicide attempts in two weeks and six suicides in two months. Massive changes need to be made in these remote northern communities. Donating a few dollars definitely isn't going to achieve those required changes, but it's something and I feel a strong need to do...something.

Through my B(e) Kind 366 efforts I am collecting funds for World University Services of Canada, an organization that advocates for refugee rights, specifically access to education, and has changed my life; The Women's Resource Centre, an organization that counsels and supports women and children who have been effected by domestic or family violence; and the Canadian Cancer Society.

If you happen to be in a donating disposition please do; I dare you!

B(e) Kind 366

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - C is for Chocolate and Consent Culture on Campus

I'm doing an act of kindness (random or otherwise) every day in 2016. That's where B(e) Kind 366 comes from. Last year I blogged A-Z providing alphabetized lists of potential acts of kindness. Here's the C list: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "C."


I'll start with the fun part of this post: Chocolate! For some unknown reason, Chocolate was not on last year's list. Candy was, but not chocolate. Anyway, I just got back from leaving these sweet treats for some unsuspecting students who were studying at the university campus. It just so happens that the brand name of this chocolate is Carnaby and if we want to have even more C fun, the french word for pig is cochon. So we have a Carnaby chocolate cochon on campus for today's act of kindness!


Now for the not-so-fun, but definitely more important, Consent Culture on campus. It's a fact that universities and colleges across North America have a serious issue when it comes to dealing with sexual assault on college and university campuses.

A group of students on the university campus have organized a We Believe Survivors website to allow survivors of sexual assault to anonymously submit their stories. Today, as a lead up to their event on Wednesday - Airing BU's Dirty Laundry - they released this anonymous contract that a survivor of sexual assault was required to sign on campus. The result has been complete and utter outrage at the total disregard for survivors' rights as shown by this gag order. As an entire society we need to move away from rape culture and replace it with consent culture. University and college campuses are a solid place to start!

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - B is for Birthday

The letter B is my favourite letter. I'm sure you can guess why -- my name is Brandy after all! B is also for B(e) Kind 366 and if you've never visited before B(e) is a play on my nickname - "B" - and being kind! B(e) Kind 366 has been years in the making, but 2016 is finally here and I am doing an act of kindness, random or otherwise, every day of this year.

In 2015 I blogged A-Z with lists of acts of kindness for every letter of the alphabet. Here's a link to last year's B list: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with B.

This year the act of kindness I perform on each day of the A-Z Challenge corresponds with the letter of the alphabet for that day of the challenge.

Today B is for Birthday - or better yet, "buy someone birthday dinner."

It's one of my friend's birthday's today so I bought him dinner. To be honest I didn't actually make it to the restaurant, but my husband did and I gave him my debit card to pay for dinner. This particular act wasn't on last year's list, but with 366 different acts to perform, I find myself coming up with a number of acts not on my lists!

One thing that was listed was Big Brothers Big Sisters. Saturday is also the day that my husband and I take our "Little" out. We became a Big Couple earlier this year and it's one of the best things we've done. Today we took him to the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

All in all today was a great "B" day!

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - A is for Ally, Activist, & Advocate

For the 2015 A-Z Challenge I posted Random Acts of Kindness ideas for each letter as a lead up to 2016 and the launch of B(e) Kind 366! Now it's 2016 and I've been B(e)ing kind for 92 days now! For A-Z 2016 my plan is take one idea from my alphabetized lists, perform that act, and then blog about it! Fun, right?!

With that said, here's the link to my A List from last year: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "A". 

My chosen act for "A" is Ally and I'm adding Activist and Advocate as well. 

Yesterday, March 31st was the International Transgender Day of Visibility. This date is recognized as a day dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of the discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide. Admittedly, yesterday came and went and I didn't promote #TDOV, but I remembered today. I posted the following video on my facebook page today and try to take steps on a regular basis to do exactly what this video asks allies to do: be an activist ally not an armchair ally! As a cisgendered woman it's important that I recognize and use my privilege to advocate along side folks that don't find life quite as simple as I do. 

I've taken LGBTTQ* awareness and support training and really do try as much as I can to make an active effort to refrain from using gendered language. It's difficult; it really is! If you'd like to see how difficult try telling someone what your weekend plans are without using any gendered terminology: she, he, mom, dad, sister, brother, wife, husband, etc.  

I'll close with this infographic and hope that you'll consider becoming an activist ally/advocate too!

B(e) Kind 366: Plans for January

I started off B(e) Kind 366 with an act that I've wanted to complete for some time. My hubs and I completed the paperwork to become a Big Couple with Big Brothers Big Sisters. By the end of the month we should have a "Little" matched with us! The commitment is 3-4 hours a week and my mind is full of ideas of ways to spend time with them.

In addition to my acts of kindness, I am taking on a personal challenge every month. For the month of January I've decided to not drive anywhere. I'm going to have to make a few exceptions, but on a daily basis I'll be walking to and from work, the gym, etc. In the summer this wouldn't be such a a big deal, but January in Manitoba makes this challenge a bit more trying. We've had a really mild winter so far by Manitoba standards so here's hoping it stays mild for the extent of January. In either case, I'm prepared as per the photo to the right!

Another part of B(e) Kind 366 is volunteering with a different organization every month. I already volunteer with quite a few organizations, but because I'm attending World University Service of Canada's International Forum later this month and because January is Student Refugee Program Awareness Month, I'm choosing to dedicate some additional time to WUSC this month.

Of course we can't forget that I am raising funds for three charitable organizations during all of this. Since January is my birthday month I'll be honouring everyone who donates $10+ to my project, by reciprocating the gesture with a small gift. I'd love to send to you a token of appreciation so please consider donating!

B(e) Kind 366: Official Launch

If you've stopped by my blog over the last year you'd have had a difficult time missing my kindness theme. I've been planning B(e) Kind 366 for over a year now, collecting kindness ideas, and developing this special project. I shared most of my ideas during the month of April when I blogged A-Z.

On January 1, 2016 B(e) Kind 366 begins. B (that's me - short for Brandy) will be performing an act of kindness (sometimes random, sometimes not) every day of the year. 2016 is a Leap Year - hence 366.

I'll be blogging about it here. Facebooking about it here: B(e) Kind 366. Tweeting about it here: @blr098. Instagramming about it here: @bitsbyb. And raising funds for World University Service of Canada, The Women's Resource Centre, and the Canadian Cancer Society here: B(e) Kind 366.

Every month I'll be taking on a different unique challenge in addition to performing an act of kindness. Some of the challenges include not driving anywhere for month, not purchasing anything for a month, shaving my head, writing a poem a day, spending thirty minutes in nature everyday for a month, living "off the grid" for a month, giving up something I love for a month, and more.

Every month I'll also be offering a special little incentive to those who donate to my project. Some of the incentives include receiving a small gift, receiving mail art, having a poem written for them, and much more.

On top of all that I'll be offering giveaways right here on my blog for all of you lovely people!

All of this in the name of KINDNESS! 

I hope you'll join me in your own special way!

The Simple Kindness of a Wave

I originally got the idea for this post on Father's Day (June 21) and had the best intentions of linking it up for the fifth installment of 1000 Voices for Compassion or #1000Speak. On or around the 20th of each month amazing bloggers come together and post about compassion or themes closely related to compassion. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, please do join us! Like I said, I had good intentions, but I just didn't sit down to write this soon enough so here it is, July 8, and I'm finally typing words on the screen.

I was driving home on Father's Day and as I entered the outskirts of the town I slowed my truck down to allow what I am only assuming was a father and his sons to cross the road. The father was on a four-wheeled ATV and was followed by an older son on a dirt bike and two younger sons on smaller three-wheeled ATVs. I stopped and as they made their way into the ditch on the side of the road the father waved in a gesture of thanks. I waved back and immediately started thinking about the simple kindness of a wave.

Memories of growing up in a small town (less than 1000 people) flooded in and I recalled my own father "waving" at everyone he encountered while driving in his truck by simply flicking his index finger up from its resting place at the top of the steering wheel. I remember asking him, "Dad, who was that?" and getting the response, "I don't know." "Well then why did you wave?" I'd ask and he'd respond, "Just to say 'Hi.'" It made sense to me then and it still does now, but it's not something I see very often anymore, if ever and that makes me a little sad. Why don't we make the effort to wave and "just say 'Hi'" to complete strangers?

Shortly after that encounter with the father and sons, the provincial government started construction on one of the smaller, but heavily travelled highways between the town where I live and the city where I work. I'm annoyed by road construction as much as the next person, but in addition to tapping into the old cliche "patience is a virtue" to deal with the frustration, I noticed that a number of the men and women hired to work as flag people holding the "Slow/Stop" signs wave at every vehicle that goes passed. Their job has to be quite exhausting and boring, but despite that the same people who wave at me during my early morning commute to work are there still waving at me during my early evening commute back home. I always make sure I slow down to well below the suggested speed limit (a person stands zero chance of survival against a vehicle driving 60km/hour) and wave back. That friendliness makes the slow drive home not all that bad.

In 2016 I am launching a project called B(e) Kind 366 where I'll be performing a random (or not) act of kindness every day of the year. Waving to people, especially random people, is definitely on my list!

Do you have a friendly waving story?

I'd be delighted to read all about it in the comments!