A small, spontaneous act of kindness by a Chicago-area pastor has inspired the creation of the 365 Club – a Facebook group whose members are each committed to performing 365 acts of kindness in 2009.
Since its founding last Friday, more than 250 people have joined the club that so far has a collective commitment to perform more than 100,000 acts of kindness in 2009.
The 365 Club was inspired by a real-life story of kindness from Pastor David Ferguson of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Ill. Ferguson had walked into a Kinko’s store holding a Starbucks coffee last Friday when one of the employees joked, “Hey, where is mine?”
Ferguson immediately asked, “What do you want … I’m buying!” He also offered to buy the two other Kinko’s employees working in the store at the time the Starbucks drink of their choice.
“When I got back with their favorite drinks in hand you would have thought they won the lottery,” the pastor recalled in his blog. “They were super grateful and it was just a fun and spontaneous random act of kindness.”
He then posted his Kinko’s-Starbuck story on Facebook and not long after his friend took the idea and set up a facebook group, 365 Club.
One of the first members of the 365 Club, Michelle Thomas, posted on Saturday her act of kindness in the Facebook group.
Thomas said she waited until 2:30 a.m. and brought a bucket of hot, soapy water to the parking garage of her condo building and began to search for the dirtiest car on the floor.
She found a dirty car and washed it, dried it, and left a card in an envelope on the car’s windshield that read, “Make this world a better place, pay it forward on it.”
The 365 Club’s motto is: “Small things done with great love can change the world!”
Chicago-area Community Christian Church was founded by Pastor Dave Ferguson and four friends from college. The church now has more than 600 leaders and over 5,000 in attendance during its weekend service among its nine sites throughout Chicago.
On the Web:
The 365 Club on Facebook.com
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Cool i like the idea, although I think i being doing that just cause there are so many people out in the street needing a like kinds and help. God Bless the USA.
Great point, Shooter, perhaps these acts of charity should be done in an anonymous way. Our reward cannot be to simply see someone's gratefulness to us, but to have a reward from our Father in Heaven. Amen.
Hi Helen,
As an act of kindness I offer a tip for having success in your complete post being copied here everytime;
when copying text the punctuation hangs up the system and cuts off the text. Try removing quotes and commas and paste onto Notepad and insert the correct punctuation, then copy from notepad to the little bar for CP for comments.
There is also a 'delete' link near the thumbs and flag where you are able to delete your posts at any time you wish...it's helpful to delete the false starts.
Please try again.
To finish off my first post (hopefully, third time lucky!):
If we followed this man’s lead,
we would gradually overcome
all obstacles that impede,
for this imagined world is the goal
we secretly long for with all our hearts.
“Then let’s start on the path,†comes the shout,
“that will make it concrete, substantial and real!â€Â
(from 'Family and More - Enemies or Friends')
It seems to be that the 365 Club has already started out on this path. Thank you for this story.
Helena Harper (www.helenaharper.com)
To finish off my previous post:
'If we followed this man’s lead,
we would gradually overcome
all obstacles that impede,
for this imagined world is the goal
we secretly long for with all our hearts.
“Then let’s start on the path,†comes the shout,
“that will make it concrete, substantial and real!â€Â
(from 'Family and More - Enemies or Friends?')
Thank you for this article.
Helena Harper(www.helenaharper.com)
An inspiring story! I've been blessed to know some wonderfully kind people in my life, such as my physio who gives of his time so generously, and I've often thought about what the world would be like if we all followed his example:
'If we all gave of ourselves
as this man does,
imagine the world we would create!
Each of us treating strangers
as our other half,
where nothing was too much
for the well-being of another
and selfishness was forgotten,
a thing of the past.
If we followed this man’s lead,
we would gradually overcome
all obstacles that impede,
for this imagined world is the goal
we secretly long for with all our hearts.
“Then let’s start on the path,†comes the shout,
“that will make it concrete, substantial and real!â€Â
(from my book 'Family and More - Enemies or Friends?')
It seems to me that the 365 Club has already started out on that path. 'Small things done with great love can change the world' - I agree!
Helena Harper
www.helenaharper.com
very nice, however might Matt6:1-4 apply?