The general details of my master plan were to kidnap Rob on his birthday and complete 47 Random Acts of Kindness throughout the community in celebration of his big day. I also asked if his friends and family would complete their own RAK on Rob's birthday in his honour and send him the details of what they've done. In a moment of panic that the master plan was going to fall through, I had Rob open his card the evening before his birthday. I couldn't have been happier than I was when Rob said, "let's do it!" I had one more thing to do that night before leaving the events of the day to unfold in Rob's very capable hands. I wanted to somehow create a snowball effect in the community and so I took a chance in sending Brian Martin with Sun FM in Vernon a message briefly explaining what we were about to set out to do.
Rob's Random Act of Kindness Birthday Extravaganza began with an early morning phone call from Brian and Betty with Sun FM's morning show asking Rob about the day he had planned. This put a HUGE smile on Rob's face and set the tone for the rest of the day. Thank you Brian and Betty! Rob also started receiving texts from friends and family letting him know about the random acts they had done and wishing him a happy birthday. The snowball was already building when we left the house just before 9am to start on Rob's quest to complete 47 RAK's in one day. The Random Acts of Kindness that Rob completed in celebration of his birthday were:
1 - 3) Bought the Tim Horton's orders for the 3 cars behind us in the drive through. We had to pull aside while the Tim Horton's employees put together our 10 dozen boxes of donuts and as we were sitting there the guy in the car behind us drove by hanging out the window, full of thanks and extremely excited that someone bought his coffee!
4) Waved at a man and thanked him for letting us in traffic. Throughout the day Rob paid this forward many times to let others in front of us, stop to let pedestrians cross on unmarked crossings, and being genuinely aware and courteous of other drivers and pedestrians.
5) Donated funds to Multiple Sclerosis through their fundraising campaign at A&W.
6) Paid for Roy's breakfast at A&W. Roy was an elder gentleman who really didn't understand that someone had bought his breakfast. The staff at A&W told him that his breakfast was paid for and he still stood at the cashier with his wallet out waiting to pay!
7) Brought a box of doughnuts in to the staff at Sun FM - Leah Riley graciously accepted them and posed for a picture with Rob.
8) Brought Brian Martin poutine. On the call with Rob, Brian had mentioned that he would "accept poutine" from Rob to help him complete his RAKs. When we told the A&W employee that the poutine we were ordering at 9:15am was for Brian Martin, she said, "yes, he does like his poutine!"
9) Donated 4 BC Lion's tickets to Sun FM to give away to a listener who completed their own random act of kindness. The tickets were divided into pairs and given away to two lucky listeners!
10) Brought a box of a dozen doughnuts into Valley First Credit Union.
11) Handed a box of a dozen doughnuts out the window to a city crew working on the roads. We heard from Rick Gibbins later in the day that the crew were very thankful for the doughnuts!
12) Stopped by the Ambulance station in Vernon to say thank you and drop off a couple of boxes of donuts.
13) Stopped into the RCMP detachment in Vernon to say thank you and drop off 3 boxes of doughnuts. We had a chat with some of the members and staff and thoroughly enjoyed our brief time there. We also had the chance to chat with Gord Molendyk, an amazing man in his own right. Thank you to all of the staff and members for a great, though brief, visit!
14) Stopped by the Vernon Fire Hall to say thank you and drop off a couple of boxes of doughnuts.
15) Returned some wayward shopping carts in the Walmart parking lot to the cart return area.
16) Taped loonies on to a vending machine outside of Walmart. A couple watched as Rob taped the last couple of loonies on to the machine and asked why he would do that. They thanked him and took advantage of one of the loonies to buy a drink!
17) Hugged the Walmart greeter and told her she was doing a great job. She brightened up with a huge smile and told Rob he "made my day".
18) Bought the groceries for the young man in front of us in line at Walmart. He was shocked and extremely thankful. He gave Rob a card out of his wallet that he had printed out that reads, "Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Awesome!
19) Gave the cashier at Walmart $40 cash to use towards the customer behind us in line. It was a woman with her young child and they were also buying some groceries.
20) Dropped off 5 giant colouring books and crayons to Jesie Harms at the Vernon Boys and Girls Club. We had a chance to peek into the gym to see the kids enjoying themselves. It's a great place!
21) Dropped off blankets to Nancy Lafreniere at Silver Springs care home for her and the kitchen staff to give out to some of their residents. Nancy let us know later in the day that she had the kitchen staff go around to deliver the blankets at 1pm to residents who didn't have any family. Thanks Nancy!
22) Drove by two girls walking in the rain. Rob pulled over and dug the umbrella out of the back seat and gave it to them.
23) Taped loonies to parking meters downtown Vernon.
24) Driving through downtown Vernon we drove by a man who looked like he was down on his luck. Rob circled the block and handed him a Wendy's gift card which will get him at least 3 meals.
25) Handed a gardener working outside a bottle of water as we drove by the Wholesale Club in Vernon.
26) Donated 2 1/2 bags of gently used clothing to the Upper Room Mission. Some of the men's shirts were actually brand new and still have the tags on them!
27) Gave Wendy's gift cards to Lisa at the Upper Room Mission to distribute to 4 of their clients.
28) Gave a man down on his luck and asking for change $20.00. He repeatedly thanked Rob for his kindness.
29) We went in to Safeway to buy some flowers to give out and were rung through by Robin. I have never met a more attentive and interested cashier before in my life! Rob was blown away by her spirit and turned right around to hand her one of the bouquets of flowers that he had just purchased. Robin went so red with the acknowledgement, I would describe it as a purple red. Robin, may others embrace the incredible spirit that you give them!
30) Gave Melanie O'Hara at Kiss FM two $50 movie gift cards to give away to their listeners who complete RAK's. They gave one gift card away on Melanie's show and the second one away on the late afternoon/evening show.
31) Donated a box of food to the Vernon Food Bank.
32) Gave the Vernon Food Bank a cash donation.
33) Went grocery shopping with Christy, a student working at the Upper Room Mission. Rob's RAK was to buy the groceries for them that they were purchasing that day. She was so informed and passionate about who gets the food Rob was buying and how it was distributed. She gave us a couple of items each to grab which felt awesome to be helping with a small part of her day.
34) Bought groceries for the elderly woman in front of us at the Wholesale Club. She couldn't believe Rob was buying her groceries and asked him why numerous times. She made a point of stopping at the doorway to give him one last smile of thanks as she was leaving.
35) Gave Christy from the Upper Room Mission a bouquet of flowers. What we didn't realize was how much spending this short time with Christy would impact both of us. Not only was she passionate about what she does, but she was slinging huge tubs of margarine and mayo like they were nothing. All of this shortly after having her wisdom teeth pulled! Thank you Christy for giving us a small glimmer into what you do at the Upper Room Mission!
36) Paid for George's parking at the Vernon Jubilee Hospital. George is 90 years old and was having troubles reading the pay station so Rob paid for his ticket and gave it to him. In speaking with George, we discovered that he was there dropping off his son for his dialysis appointment. George's son has had a stroke and could no longer take care of him self so George drives him around. Did I mention that George is 90 - incredible!
37) Gave a hospital volunteer a bouquet of flowers and thanked her for volunteering.
38) Dropped off books, stuffed animals, colouring books and crayons to the children's ward at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. We had a chance to speak with a couple of the nurses on the ward and they immediately had 3 patients who they knew of that would be getting something that we had dropped off.
39) Handed 2 bottles of water out to a pair of gardeners who were working in Polson Park.
40) Gave flowers to 2 women who were out enjoying the day at Polson Park. They were both residents of Polson Residential Care Facility and were both wheelchair bound. The flowers brought huge smiles to their faces.
41) Gave a box of doughnuts to our server and the staff of Boston Pizza. It was so great to sit down for a bit to reflect on what all Rob had accomplished, read some of the texts that were coming in from friends who were out and about also doing acts of kindness, and plot out the rest of the day.
42) Gave a lotto ticket and thanked the woman who was cleaning tables at Village Green Mall for her hard work in keeping the food court clean.
43) Added lotto tickets to the AMAZING baskets of toys, food and gift certificates that Chandra Marchand had put together for a family in need in Enderby. Chandra - you had us both sitting there with tears brimming our eyelids as we listened to you tell us on the phone what you had pulled off in one short day. Thank you for letting us be a part of your presentation!
44) Offered work to the husband of the family that Chandra's incredible baskets went to.
45) Dropped off the final of the 10 boxes of doughnuts at the Enderby Fire Hall. On our way out to Enderby for Chandra's presentation, Highway 97A was closed down due to a fatal head on collision and the Enderby Fire Department was on scene responding. Rob left doughnuts as a treat and a thank you for them to return to.
46) Donated money to the Armstrong Food Bank through their account at Askew's foods. Due to the accident on the highway and traffic moving slower than we had hoped, the Armstrong Food Bank drop off was closed when we returned into Armstrong. We went into Askew's and asked if there was a way for us to donate funds there for the food bank and they told us about the account they have set up for that purpose. Thank you to the women at Askew's for your help!
And here is Rob's 47th Random Act of Kindness in his own words:
47) "My 47th Birthday is done and on the books as the best birthday ever. To all my family and friends, a huge thanks for making it what is was. To Lisa Fenyedi, you amaze me at every turn while being beautiful inside and out. I love you all. In conclusion, my 47th Random Act of Kindness was to pay it forward for my Grandfathers, one of whom was a mentor to many, a hero, a true inspiration in business and life, Gordon Beggs. The other whom exemplified the true meaning of how to love and be loved, he still to this day shows the art of being the kindest man on earth, Stanley Ellis."
As mentioned, our friends and family were also out and about committing random acts of kindness in honour of Rob's birthday. Because of those acts, a family in need in Enderby has groceries, gas, toys etc to get them through for a while, Tim Horton's probably had one of their top sales days, the RCMP in Vernon received 5 dozen doughnuts, children got in on the acts, pets have food and supplies both in animal shelters and with their owners, food banks received food and monetary donations, shoppers and diners received gift cards and meals, funds were donated to various charities, the list goes on... Some friends jumped on the "47" bandwagon and there were 47 bottles of water given out, 47 cans of cat food donated to an animal shelter, 47 shoppers were helped out to their cars at Save-On-Foods and their carts were returned for them, and $47 of groceries were donated to the Edmonton Food bank! Amazing things can be accomplished when you are looking for opportunities to present themselves. A couple of people have mentioned that they wish they were able to do something "bigger", from our experiences yesterday, it is sometimes the small things which don't involve money which have the biggest impact.
I couldn't have imagined the awesome response Rob received yesterday when this whole thing started. Thank you to everyone, friends, family and complete strangers form making Rob's Random Act of Kindness Birthday Extravaganza what it was. The acts done by all of you were the chocolate drizzle on top of the chocolate icing on the chocolate birthday cake for this chocolate loving birthday boy. There were giant smiles, tears of joy and most importantly, love and kindness spread through the generous acts completed by all of you. There aren't enough positive adjectives in the world to properly put into words how amazing this was for Rob.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking a vision and making it into something absolutely incredible!
Lisa Fenyedi
