One of the students I talked with at Colorado College last night was Ana. Ana asked if we could meet to talk about how she is helping children in need, before I left town to head north.  I meet so many amazing people as I travel, few more amazing or passionate than Ana. As an infant in Peru, Ana was adopted by parents from the US, she went from a life of very little, to a life of having everything she could ever need.  At the age of 11, Ana took a trip back to her hometown of Cusco, Peru and couldn’t believe the extremely impoverished region where she once lived.
At the age of 11, Ana decided to start a non profit. Ana saw a very big need and a very big way of giving back to help the children of Cusco. Ana started Peruvian Hearts, an organization to help feed and educate children in her former home. Through the generosity of donors, Peruvian Hearts is the sole supporter of an orphanage in the area and they feed hundreds of children each day with their Nutrition for Change program. One of the newest programs and for which Ana is most proud is a leadership program for young women called Peruvian Promise; it helps these women to become leaders of their communities through education, mentorship and service to others.
I am honored to have met Ana.
Please visit www.peruvianhearts.org to learn of Ana’s passion and how you can help these children in Peru.

One other reason Ana met with me was to tell me of all the Domestic Violence which is widespread throughout Peru. She wanted advice on how to approach the issue in her family in that country. It must be discussed was my advice.

It was a very busy day for The Kindness Bicycle/Bus Tour, as I visited the Mayor’s office of Colorado Springs, The President’s office of Colorado College, Safe Passage Child Advocacy Center, TESSA Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center and Kindness Bicycle rides in between all these visits.
A tour of Safe Passage by Interim Executive Director, Tammi Pitzen gave me great insight on the services they provide the 2 counties in their jurisdiction. They are busy beyond belief, over 950 victims were brought through their doors last year alone. A backpack project helps kids who need foster care, a quilting guild provides quilts for children who come to the facility, and a Fill the Gap program as well. They work with local law enforcement and the FBI on issues of national jurisdiction. They are the Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, providing training to CACs throughout the western US with close associations with the National Children’s Alliance.
What an unbelievable visit this afternoon to TESSA. I was given a complete tour of their facility by Executive Director, Connie Brachtenbach. This very focused woman proudly showed every area of the building and told me of the great successes which are borne out of the many programs they offer to the community.
This facility is incredible, so many  needs are addressed, all under one roof. The dedicated staff of 40 individuals and 185 volunteers offer Victim Advocacy, Safehouse, Crisis Lines, Children’s Programs, Counseling Programs, Domestic Violence Awareness, Community Outreach and so much more. These individuals are so busy and work with a passion. It obviously comes right from the top down.
At the end of my tour, I was invited by Connie to address the staff during their meeting. Their interest and kind words were very inspiring to me. Thank you to everyone for making my day a very special one.

I have been awaiting this day for quite some time. The opportunity to talk at this college has personal significance; my daughter is a senior at this beautiful campus. As a father, this talk was very important to me, especially having her sitting front and center and having all of her friends in attendance. What a blast! I had the time of my life, talking about the importance of their lives to those in need and trying to inspire them to devote their lives to a charity they are passionate about. I talked about One Million Acts Of Kindness and the current Kindness Bicycle/Bus Tour to raise awareness about Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse. The response from everyone was overwhelming. I was so honored and one very proud dad to have this very unique opportunity afforded to me.
Huge kudos to Bethany Grubbs, Student Life Specialist for Campus Activities at Colorado College for arranging my visit. Thank you!
Thank you to everyone for braving some of the worst weather Colorado Springs has seen in a very long time to come to my talk.

After tonight’s talk with the students, Lizzie, several of her friends and I were treated by Danny the manager of the Chipotle near the Colorado College campus. A big One Million Acts Of Kindness thank you to Chipotle!

Once you reach Colorado, you feel like you are in the western part of the United States, and you are. The most amazing and caring people keep dropping into my life with help and well-wishes when I least expect.
Driving to Colorado Springs for an upcoming talk to students at Colorado College, I had to make it a two day event of travel; The Kindness Bus isn’t a fan of all day drives, nor am I. Two very caring, generous people I met along my drive were Bill and Wynn. They were interested about my travels and spent time with me discussing One Million Acts Of Kindness and its successes. It is inspiring to me when people understand the message of The Kindness Bus without asking for an explanation.
Arriving in town I called Safe Passage and TESSA the Child Advocacy Center and Domestic Violence Coalition to arrange for meetings with their organizations during my visit.
I also noticed the beauty of the beginning of the Rocky Mountains and Pike’s Peak. The next few months are going to be spectacular riding as I make my way up, around and over these majestic mountains.

Four years old and entering the prime of his life. It is hard to believe that Bogart came into my life 2 1/2 years ago. Time has flown by and Bogart has become the “toast of the town” in every town we visit. Just one look at his face and Bogart has won you over.
Bogart’s book series is being promoted to publishers and I know that as a book series it will be a long term hit. Several people have expressed the desire to pay in advance for the initial 12 books in the series. Book 1 is in print, book 2 is written and being illustrated, book 3 is written and waiting on the illustrator, books 4, 5 and 6 are being written.
I am hoping to have Bogart back on The Kindness Bus Tour by month’s end, if not it will be after the Christmas break. I sung “Happy Birthday” to Bogart, long-distance, over the speaker phone. He howled his approval the entire song.
Today I made my way well into western Kansas, Colorado tomorrow.

The Kindness Bicycle had an extreme makeover today. It was outfitted with some new signs just for this day. Having a scheduled day off to reflect on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I decided that having a day off wasn’t what I wanted. I hoped to ride The Kindness Bike from 9:11AM until 9:11PM in Salina, Kansas and try to get a handshake or hug for every victim of 9/11. I didn’t know what to expect, so I started early. After 3 hours of riding in the morning, I had only received 182 handshakes and hugs in this small town, I had to alter my plan. Salina has a few intersections with very long traffic lights; a perfect spot for a captive audience. I decided to add anyone stopped at the red light and would read the signs and acknowledge them in a positive manner. The response I received was huge! Many people pulled into the parking lot behind me to personally shake my hand or hug me. It was incredible! For fifteen hours I interacted with people in this town, going to a firefighter event in the morning and attending a ceremony at the KSU Salina campus. By days end I had received 2,790 positive gestures, including the 88 I received from my posting on Facebook.
A special thanks to Brenda, Wilma and Dick Gerleman for opening their home and helping with sign making expertise and hospitality.

From: Kim
To: My Email
Subject: Thanks for visiting our town!
Sent: Sep 11, 2011 8:39 PM

From: Kim
Subject: Thanks for visiting our town!

Message Body:
I live in Lawrence, KS. You were parked outside of a restaurant in our town a few weeks ago, and my 4 year old son saw your bus. Just wanted to let you know that we looked at your website tonight, and my son, who can’t read, yet, told me, “that sign say that boys can’t hit girls.” I think that you’re having a bigger impact than even you know!

Safe travels! Thanks for all that you do!

I visited 8 schools yesterday trying to gain an audience with as many principals or counselors as possible. My objective was to gain placement of The Kindness Certificate in classrooms for students to use as a vow to perform One Million Acts Of Kindness. 4 of the schools I was actually able to meet with the principal or counselor and had great interest. At Heusner Elementary, a large contingency of staff came out to take pictures of The Kindness Bus for their website. I was assured that a Kindness Certificate will be printed for each student at this school.