Staying the week in Savannah to be a part of a community effort to help a family in need is something I felt compelled to do.
Trevor Parker was diagnosed with his cancer several months ago, just a few days before his 6th birthday. A bright eyed boy with a heart of courage.

When I heard that this benefit, Trevor’s Treasures 5K, was being held this weekend, I made up my mind to stay in Savannah, during the conversation of one phone call.
Trevor, a bright-eyed boy is in the fight of his life. His parents, Christy and Carlton are overwhelmed with bills while raising four children and trying to live the day to day of their lives.
I had the pleasure of talking with Christy during some of the few moments she wasn’t busy talking with everyone else. The one comment she made that really made an impact on me, was her telling of watching all of Trevor’s friends run across the finish line of the 5K run. This world is filled with beautiful people with open, caring hearts. They all seem to be entering my life. I am truly blessed.

Four nights in a row where the overnight temperature dropped into the 20s has come to an end in Savannah. Opening the door to the bus to start the day, I was greeted by a welcome surprise, it was warm outside. Being warm to me means one thing, foot traffic. It was going to be a busy day.
I started by taking Bogart to the dog park for some exercise and fresh air. I had two destinations I wanted to visit before leaving this town next week. I headed to the Board of Education building and the Mayor’s office. The good that people can do in a position of power could help to catapult this mission to every student in this city. Now that One Million Acts Of Kindness has some history. We are going to start approaching people in power more often than ever. We soon will become a .org and a 501c3 to give us non-profit status. Big steps in the direction of growing this movement into something very special for children.
We are getting some very favorable press since arriving in Savannah; South magazine, WSAV TV were so nice to stop out to talk. The word is starting to spread in Savannah from person to person and over the air waves.

Each day on The Kindness Bus Tour, brings with it many new people I have the pleasure of meeting. I am able to talk with them about some great details of their lives and learn of some personal stories they share with me at times.
One such story I will carry with me for a very long time was from a young couple who were visiting Savannah from the west coast, and who are also expecting their first child in February. I met them as I was returning and they were reading the slogans painted on the bus as they walked slowly around it. They wanted to hear the long version of why I travel the country, living on the bus. I shared many stories about the history of what has happened and I also shared some of the plans for the future of One Million Acts Of Kindness.   With the February date of the birth of their first child, fast approaching, they are growing anxious as the date draws near. The one addition to the website which is planned that had much meaning for them, are the five Parent’s Vows which will be able to be printed off our website. These Parent’s Vows will be added in the next couple of weeks. They will be able to be personalized with the child’s name, a photo and the parent’s signature. The vow is a covenant, to which the parent, expressly sign their name. The vow is an agreement from parent to child, solemnly agreeing to do the best possible job raising their child.
The story I will be carrying with me is what was said to me; not knowing the sex of their child, the couple will be taking all of the Parent’s Vow certificates into the birthing room with them, to vow immediately upon the birth of their child. Saying I am ecstatic is a huge understatement.

Our slightly cropped Father to Daughter Vow is today’s picture as an example of one of our parent’s vow.

With Bogart needing a day of  exercise, I decided we would do a walking tour of schools in the historic area of Savannah. Nine schools are very reachable by foot and it was a good day for a walk. This town needs to be walked, there are too many gems passed by in a car. The architecture, the secret gardens, the squares, the pastry chefs…the pastry chefs?  Ines, was a hard at work pastry chef in the kitchen of, Local 11 Ten, a very popular Savannah restaurant, when I walked past the kitchen window. She was exquisitely applying frosting to a cake when Bogart spotted her. She came out to hear about my mission. With as good as that cake looked, I am going to visit this restaurant before I leave.
Carole Foran, the principal of Notre Dame Academy was doing double duty when I stopped at her school. She loved the thought of every student in her school taking the One Million Acts Of Kindness pledge, including her two children.
By far the biggest thrill of the day for Bogart was meeting Miss Usher at Gadsden Elementary school. She is a dog lover of the highest degree. I have a feeling her five dogs were quite jealous of Bogart when she got home.

With a temperature in the low 20s overnight in Savannah, I made an executive decision this morning, one of which Juan Valdez would be proud. I parked at the corner of Bull and Broughton between the two largest coffee chains in the city. The location was perfect for visibility and also for contacting schools across the country about One Million Acts Of Kindness Week, from one of these two coffee shops. Barely warming into the 40s, I spent the day phoning and emailing schools about the possibilities of visiting their campuses later in the school year. It was a day of many successes, virtually and visually.
SCAD; Savannah College of Art and Design, is scattered all around the area just south of the Savannah river. The college is on their six week winter break, but many students who have chosen to stay a few extra weeks were   out and about by late morning and I was able to make conversation with many. One college admirer of The Kindness Bus Tour commented on the art worthiness of The Kindness Bus. It is, without a doubt, the Pièce de résistance.

The connection individuals have with The Kindness Bus is pretty much a constant from town to town. I can be away from it, talking with people in a different area of a campus or city and I will usually hear from someone who has been impacted by seeing it, often times, several people. Today I was contacted by three people. A woman, nearly a year ago, saw an article about The Kindness Bus Tour and after all this time, decided to write to tell me that it has changed her life in a powerful way. Another woman saw the bus a couple of weeks ago and she shared her interest with me as well as her son’s. In fact, her son has decided to adopt a family for the Christmas holiday. A family who will be able to celebrate Christmas in a more meaningful way because of people who saw the need to share kindness with others. The third person saw The Kindness Bus in Savannah today. It is the reason I will remain here in Savannah, for another week, instead of the warmer environs of South Florida. There is a benefit for a six year old boy with brain cancer where The Kindness Bus has been requested to make an appearance. There will be many acts of kindness taking place that day; The Kindness Bus Tour will be doing one of them.

Seven billion people in the world and conditions for many of its inhabitants are miserable. Poverty, hunger, war, disease, famine, oppression and suffering are but a few of these, oft times, man-made plagues. A very select few individuals in the world have the power to make some of the most necessary changes to end these tragedies across the globe. Some of these tragedies offer short-term gain for few, but affect generations of people to come.

Most of these individuals have come to gather many times in their lives just a stone’s throw from the courtyard where the inscription in today’s photo is located. It is shaded by the very early morning sun by the structure in which they meet. It is located within view and in short walking distance from The United Nations building.
Some leaders are taking their countries down very bad paths and bringing the rest of the world with them. If we are to truly become a world of one people, the leaders of our world need to change the current course they are electing.

In 2005, I spent my summer vacation to write every member nation of The United Nations with a simple message of a world of kindness and the importance that they start more than just dialogue, I believe I wrote 191 letters, only one came back as being no such address, so 190 made it to someone in power. I heard back from none of them, not one. I remain hopeful that some of these letters are being acted upon by these leaders.

In the seven weeks I spent in New York City this past summer, I talked with people from over 40 different countries from around the world. Not one of these persons wish for the type of world some of these leaders are creating. Loving, caring individuals with children and hope in their hearts for them and the future they will be handed. Before leaving New York this summer, I put my own inscription on the front bumper of my bus, it is my wish; “The Kindness Bus Tour is dedicated to all the children in the world, may they only know love”
It is my hope that the leaders of our world visit this monument with the intention of living out it’s words. If it is simpler, just embrace the words on the bumper of my bus for the children of your country, for the children of the world. Don’t let the future of these children slip through your fingers like sand. The conditions in this world can be improved with just the stroke of a pen at times. All of us, as global citizens, need to elect leaders who have the vision of leading this world in a direction, from the passion of kindness for others, they have in their hearts.