Smile Cards Take Australia By A Storm

--by jacqueline, posted Mar 5, 2008

On Sunday 30^th of September 2007 over 70 beautiful people in my life (family and friends) staged a Random Act of Kindness Project in our local community. We distributed over 600 SMILE cards on the day and the project is now set to be an annual event!

The day was perfect and we had plenty of volunteers. Over 30 businesses and individuals sponsored and donated and supported in one way or another. The day started off with a brief welcome from me, followed by a poem written by my 9 year old son about Random Acts of Kindness. He read this out aloud for all volunteers to hear which surely got everyone into the spirit of things! My gorgeous fiancé Steven took the reigns and lead the day.

We surprised our community with a free car and window wash, coffee, balloons, sweets, biscuits, gift vouchers, BBQ and lawn mowing. We also fed the homeless, visited local rest homes and collected street rubbish. We assisted shoppers in the local supermarket, walked a blind man and elderly lady home. I was inspired by a SMILE protest story on this website, so we took that on too. It was crazy fun!

We got media exposure in the local paper and on the radio. The radio actually attended the event and joined us in the SMILE protest! The community feedback on the day was positive. It was interesting to watch the public reactions. Most people thought we were a church group or fundraising for a cause (so what’s the catch?). They were surprised to find we were ordinary people doing extraordinary things, with no catches whatsoever.

What we were trying to create was unconditional love in our community … and the world. The highlight of the day was watching the children feel joy from giving and not expecting anything in return. The children were the one’s pushing for an annual event. They were asking “When is the next one? We want to do this again!”.

I want to thank helpothers.org and members of this website because without your generosity and heart warming stories, this project would not have come about. I’ve read many stories on this website which have inspired me to take this on. Helpothers.org played a major part in the Project. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My dream has always been to travel the world with my family. Now, my dream is to do small acts of kindness while we are at it. Everyday, I try to do an act of kindness. If I can make a difference to one person’s life, my work is done.

3147 Reads

Posted by jacqueline
Mar 5, 2008
Comments (16)

Readers Comments

JuneBug wrote: Such a touching story! Seems there is no limit, huh? :}

brighteyes wrote: Jacqueline:

This was a FANTASTIC project....I got the goose bumps reading....Rah, Rah and yet another Hoo-RAH!!!

I too am inspiring to do daily RAOKs!

YOU are my KINDNESS HERO of the DAY!
Brighteyes ;)

makesomeonesmile wrote: How awesome that you took it so far and made a HUGE difference. I'm sure everyone involved and everyone you touched that day will never be the same. Great job and keep it up!

Tikit wrote: Way to go, jacqueline! I admire you BUNCHES. Like you, I get so many ideas and motivational inspirations from this website.

Lovebug wrote: Ordinary people, doing ordinary small acts of kindness, for me that is what makes the world go around. God Bless you and every person you touch.

hugh wrote: well, i got up this morning feeling angry with my selfish and wasted life style, surfing for inspiration.
Thanks for that inspiration.
You may not alter the set ways of the masses but for sure you will prevent the straying of a few from joining the masses.
I will now set about my few.. Great day for smiling H xox

cinnamonhead wrote: great story, it is amazing how things take off and snowball into a great big positive. good for you.

sanserif wrote: That was such a wonderful story! You have taken spreading kindness to the macro level, by reaching out not just to an individual but to the whole community you live in. An annual SMILE project seems such a wonderful idea! Glad to know children were so enthusiastic. Keep up the terrific work! Thank you for sharing your story!

dazzle wrote: What a GREAT idea!! You did a fabulous thing for your community and I'm sure you have helped the smile community to grow in leaps and bounds by doing it.
Thank you for sharing your time and talents with us and your community.

rightnow wrote: I love it--I've been thinking of something similiar in LA and your story is "rippling" through me--thanks for sharing the inspiration.

Stories of Kindness from Around the World