"To help one person is to help the world." -- Joanne Cacciatore
July 27th is International Kindness Project Day started by the MISS Foundation. What is that...You ask?
It's a Kindness Revolution! Everyone is invited to participate with us, doing simple acts of kindness in the memory of a loved one or if you're lucky enough not to have one, feel free to do it in Jack's name! This is something we as bereaved parents do often in memory of our kids who have died.
JOIN the KINDNESS Revolution!
My very first Random Act of Kindness was very simple. I went through the Wendy's drive-thru expecting to buy a $5 gift card or certificate but they didn't have them anymore. I had several cars in front of me so I was near the ordering menu for about 15 minutes. I was feeling kind of silly, since this wasn't going as planned. While I sat there with my window down, there was delivery guy hauling food in and out of the back door. He had his son with him, he looked about 4 or 5 years old who was playing around the bushes. When the delivery guy was finished he grabbed his crates and said, "Come on Jack, time to go." I started crying, it was confirmation that Jack was with me and I would do this Act of Kindness no matter how silly or embarrassed I was. When I finally got to the window, I handed the girl a $5 bill and asked her to put my $5 towards the guy's order behind me. She looked at me funny and asked, "What?" I told her that I was doing a Random Act of Kindness in memory of my son Jack and I wanted to donate $5 to the order for the guy behind me in line. She still looked a little confused but took the $5 and the Kindness Card that said, "This Random Act of Kindness...Done in Loving Memory of Jack Kendrick Johnson. As I drove away I saw her hand the card to the man and "explain" what I had done. Driving through the parking lot my tears were blinding me and I had to pull over but I didn't want the guy to follow me so I wiped them away with my shirt and headed home. My heart was so heavy with love for Jack, my tears were full of pain and sorrow, but I felt so good because I knew Jack was with me at that moment.
7 years ago I started donating "Jackpacks", backpacks filled with school supplies to children in need. The first year I donated 5 backpacks to 5 kindergartners who were living at one of A New Leaf's domestic abuse homeless shelters in Phoenix, AZ. Jack was turning 5 that August and would've started kindergarten.
2011 International Kindness Project Day
2012 International Kindness Project Day
For Jack's 6th birthday, my goal was 6 but I was able to donate 8 backpacks filled with supplies to 8 homeless first graders at A New Leaf in Mesa.
2013 International Kindness Project Day
I donated 7 Jackpacks to Sunset View Elementary school in Provo, UT
(Jory's old elementary school)
2014 International Kindness Project Day
We donated 8 backpacks to CAPSA(a shelter) in Logan, Utah And we had left over funds from donations, to provide school supplies and 2 backpacks for a family in need with 6 kids also in Logan!
2015 International Kindness Project Day
We donated 25 Jackpacks to Syndi Knowlton at Utah Kids Foundation! Special thanks to our friend Crissa Robertson who was able to gather 16 of those 25 Jackpacks with the help of her friends and family!
2016 International Kindness Project Day
We donated 17 Jackpacks to The Family Place in Logan, Utah! http://thefamilyplaceutah.org/ https://www.facebook.com/familyplaceutah/
2017 International Kindness Project Day
We donated 28 Jackpacks to The Family Place in Logan, Utah! http://thefamilyplaceutah.org/ https://www.facebook.com/familyplaceutah/
I was only able to do this because of the kindness of our friends and family who made donations. We are still in the same predicament this year, I'm a Stay At Home/Get Out And Adventure Mom to Jack's little brother Jiraiya Dragon, our New Zealand Miracle, a part time virtual assistant and volunteer most of my time to Hike it Baby, Nationally for the Calendar Team and locally as a Branch Ambassador for Hike it Baby Utah County. I am determined to continue this annual donation for Jack's Birthday and Kindness Day regardless of our situation, we WILL make this work!
So here we go again peeps...
It's Jackpack Time!
The other 10 backpacks is where I NEED YOU! So my dearest Friends and Family....would you be willing to help me with this Kindness project for Kindness Day as well as Jack's 12th Birthday coming August 31? As I did last year I will photograph everything I purchase so you can see what your donations are going towards.
(This was our special Jackpack, picked out and bought as we would have if Jack were here for Kindergarten)
Supply List
1 Backpack
(Found them for $15-$30 at Walmart, any cheaper and they don't last a year. I've had the $4.99 ones from Walmart fall apart while I was adding the supplies, so Pretty Please, as much as I appreciate the donation, I really want to provide these kids with a backpack that will last at least one year. THANKS!)
12 #2 Pencils
1 Box of 24 Crayons
1 Box of colored pencils
2 Glue Sticks
2 Pink Erasers
1 Pair of Fiskar Scissors
1 Pencil Case
1 3 prong binder
5 Pocket Folders
2 pkg Lined paper
1 pkg Plain paper
8 lined notebooks
2 blue pens
1 Red pen
1 Ruler
1 Bottle of White/Elmers Glue
1 Personal size Bottle of Hand Sanitizer
We're donating Jackpacks to the Family Place again this year, in Logan, Utah on August 6, 2018. They will be able to give these out to children in need before school starts and throughout the year.
HOW TO DONATE
(before August 6th)
If you would like to Donate via PayPal choose Send money to friends and family(NO FEE) and send to joeycjohnson@gmail.com OR...just scroll DOWN and click the DONATE button(FEE for me).
I'm also on VENMO as Joeythegirl (NO FEE).
Or I can drive around Utah collecting donations whether that's cash or supplies!
THANK YOU ALL in advance for whatever you are able to do to help me honor Jack for his 12th Birthday!
THANK YOU!
Stephanie Nguyen for the box of backpacks(I'll update with the total shortly) to start us out!
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