Lasting a little more than a month every year from Mother’s Day until Father’s Day, this celebration of the American family is a reminder of the importance of parenting. Children who have positive parental role models during their lives, have a much better chance of being kind, caring individuals throughout life.
Started by the KidsPeace.org group, National Family Month was passed as a resolution by Congress in October of 1998. Honor, value, support and love are some of the key core values which are practiced during the month, with the hope the practice is continued all year long.
There is very little more rewarding, as I travel the country, than to have a family express to me that they are going to make One Million Acts Of Kindness a lifetime family goal. Having parents interact with their children about the importance of being kind and showing by example, is how all of us learn from one another. Parents loving their children and children loving their parents. Celebrate National Family Month, all year long.

Feelings of kindness and good for others can happen in a matter moments. Your thoughts for nothing but good for a stranger or someone you have just met can create a lifelong friendship, unfortunately, the opposite is true as well. Your initial reaction towards another, and theirs toward you, can stand in the way of you making a new friend and just as important, your personal growth as a more caring person. Preconceived notions of another, because of their culture, color, creed or characteristics will adversely affect this growth.
Practice constant kindness towards others with your feelings and physical efforts. It’s your choice and your choice alone, to remove those barriers which become all the more difficult to overcome the more set in our ways we become.

Cy was married for 68 years to the same woman before she passed away when he was 90. Cy then lived alone for almost 2 years before he realized he needed help taking care of himself. He put it off as long as he could, inevitably moving to an assisted living facility. Cy made many friends during his life and he has outlived most of them. He has a small, extended family and he is alone most of the day. Since living in the assisted facility, Cy told me the only people he interacts with are the other residents. “Nobody ever comes to visit” he says.
Cy is in excellent health, mentally and physically. He is a wealth of information, a national resource. He is a pleasure to be with. Cy is one of millions of seniors whose lives are now lived within the walls of a care facility. Most, if not all seniors, reiterate Cy’s words.
If you are interested in visiting and helping to brighten the day of seniors, be prepared to be filled with a life of a wealth of stories from some of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet.

Being able to talk with people from over forty nations during my recent two week stay in New York City has inspired me. Taking this movement across the ponds, all seven of them, seems like a lofty goal, however, with the internet and the exploding interest in this mission, people from around the world will soon know of One Million Acts Of Kindness. There are now a few people from different countries helping to spread the message of this mission in their nations.
“Peace is for everyone, make it your life’s mission” is one of the new “works of art” to adorn The Kindness Bus. It has the prominent location of the entrance door to The Kindness Bus. There is a matching second half of door which will have the word “Peace” which will be written in as many languages as space will allow. I think it is fitting to have the entrance door be a tribute to worldwide peace.

Linda Arye had a vision for children in need. She realized that very sick kids in hospitals weren’t being allowed to have many of their possessions in their rooms for fear of infection. Linda decided to make quilts for kids to have as their own. To date, over 50,000 quilts have been made for kids all over the world. Children of various types of needs are now part of this program.
Linda’s website quiltsforkids.org is an informational platform which is worth a visit. Many stories are shared of those making and receiving quilts. She has many businesses which donate fabric and various essentials, which helps to keep this great charity continue on it’s path.
The power of one, is evident in this woman from Yardley, Pennsylvania. One person, seeing a need, starting a charity which will touch hundreds of thousands of lives. Today, there are now over 10,000 quilters who help to fill the need of those in need…The power of 1 times 10,000.

Located in the southern part of the Bronx adjacent to Fordham University lies Fordham Preparatory School. The school’s location on Rose Hill, near the Bronx Zoo and the Botanical Gardens is a serene learning environment at this all boys school.
I was a guest at The Prep for two weeks last month. The administration at this school went above and beyond anything imaginable to make my stay possible. It would have been nearly impossible to make my visits to the 49 firehouses on Manhattan during this time a much more difficult endeavor.
The Kindness Bus Tour had “The Red Carpet” rolled out every step we took at The Prep. One Million Thanks to Paul Homer and everyone else involved in making my stay a very good one.

Nearly two years has passed since Officer Joshua Miktarian was gunned down on a routine traffic stop in Twinsburg, Ohio. I remember the day well, as I was in Twinsburg several hours later. I passed a makeshift memorial on the side of the road not knowing what it was for. I turned around and went back to discover the tragic reason for the memorial. This quiet town between Akron and Cleveland was deeply saddened in the early morning hours of July 13th 2008. A hero had his life senselessly taken.
Today I  planned on visiting the Twinsburg Police Department and Fire Department after a morning meeting. I arrived at the Police dispatch desk and was pleased to hear that the dispatch officer already had heard of One Million Acts Of Kindness and had a sticker on her desk, unbelievable!
The Kindness Bus Tour is continually evolving. One item for which I am most proud is being able to talk with younger kids about real life heroes and role models, specifically Police Officers and Fire Fighters. Hoping to inform children of the work that these first responders perform, keeping all of us free from harm, is one of my long term goals. Respect for authority seems to have eluded many children over the last couple of decades; all the more reason to help kids understand the need for knowledge of what heroic feats these modern day role models perform for all of us.
My continued thoughts and prayers for the Miktarian family on this second anniversary of the loss of their loved one.