RAOK: Giving to others who are in need
Random Acts of Kindness come in all forms. This is truly evident by the varied comments that have been posted through this promotion Lake Tahoe News is sponsoring through the month of January.
Janice Eastburn is the most recent award recipient. She is receiving a one-hour business consultation session with Knox & Associates as well as the new book about Steve Jobs.
It’s easy to be part of Random Acts of Kindness. Write a comment below about an RAOK you received, witnessed or partook in.
The goal is the kindness expressed throughout January will continue forever. But this will only be successful if you tell everyone about the Random Acts of Kindness.
The few rules that apply to the promotion and more details about it can be found on this story.
As RV–newbies staying at Pomo RV Park in Ft. Bragg over the New Year holiday, we were dismayed to discover that there is no taxi service that town; so our dinner plans at Silver’s at the Wharf for New Year’s Eve were nixed. On a bicycle ride on January 1st, we stopped by a store next to the RV Park and chatted with the owner, Patricia Jauregui-Darland, R.N. (Patty). To make a long story short, Patty and her husband (who was out for the first day after knee surgery) picked all four of us up at our RV that evening to enjoy the dinner at Silver’s that we missed the night before and drove us back afterwards. We were all very appreciative of her Random Act of Kindness and made a donation to her in-home elder care services organization “A Family Friend, LLC” in gratitude. We said our goodbyes and resolved to nominate Patty for LTN’s RAOK.
However, the very next day, one of our party took a bad spill on her bicycle and ended up with an ambulance ride to the ER at Mendocino Coast Hospital. Again, lacking alternate transportation (other than unhooking the RV), Patty, who also happens to be an elected member of the hospital board, took time out of her extremely busy day to pick up our friends and bring them back to the RV park. She even offered her home as a more comfortable place to recuperate! Rarely do you meet an individual who goes out of their way so much to make strangers feel so welcome in a resort community. Patty Darland deserves your RAOK award in January!
My friend, John Rice, from the Sacramento valley came up yesterday to do some volunteer work at Sierra Ski Ranch and on the way up, he came across a family from the Bay area who’s car had broken down. The family was also on their way up to Sierra Ski ranch to do some skiing. He offered to take them up and then bring them back down at the end of the day while their car got fixed but they decided to rent a car so he didn’t need to do it.
When customers purchase new shoes, they sometimes leave their “old” ones for us to discard. Often, these shoes are still in decent or easily repairable shape and I put them out where those less fortunate can easily find them. They are usually gone within an hour. It’s staggering how much useable ‘stuff’ our society simply discards when things like cloths, bicycles or household items can make someones difficult life a little easier. Please think before you discard. There are several thrift stores in town and donating helps keep useable items out of landfills, extends their useful life and perhaps helps make someones life a bit easier.