The Kindness Bicycle/Bus Tour to raise awareness about Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse met with Maintaining the Legacy ride for cancer for an early morning bicycle ride today. Nearly 200 sisters from the Chi Omega House on the KSU campus came out on Friday night and this morning to support Maintaining the Legacy of an alumni and fellow sister Laura Kleysteuber who lost her battle with cancer in 2006. Joshua Wolf, an elite Ironman participant, is riding across Kansas for Maintaining the Legacy, took one look at The Kindness Bicycle and I think he thought “oh my, 8,400 miles on that!” Nathan and I rode part of the “sprint” this morning which is just an average speed for Joshua. What a nice way to raise money for cancer research in this part of Kansas.
Today’s ride of nearly 50 miles was in the full Kansas sun. It seems like nearly every day in the last 6 weeks have been primarily sunny days. There is no way out of it at times, especially days with longer distances scheduled. Lots of SPF is the answer.
Schools are back in session or very close to being in session. I called all 50 state and DC PTAs. These organizations are the umbrella agencies in each respective state. All state PTAs now know about the Kindness Certificates on the homepage of One Million Acts Of Kindness. I hope that word spreads to schools across the country about this great goal for students.

Kids shouldn’t be allowed to witness Domestic Violence. Seeing and hearing the sights and sounds of the pain from years of abuse of a mother is certain to be indelibly marked forever in a child’s mind. Sadly, behavior like this is learned in millions of homes across our country. Eighty-four percent of children from homes like these will be in an abusive relationship as an adult. It is a continual training of a new generation of abusers.
Over fifteen million children in the United States each and every year watch and learn, with their own eyes, violence that is forcibly rendered by a loved one to a loved one of the child. There seems to be no answer, as this epidemic has become woven into the very fabric of our society.
Domestic Violence is a male problem, ninety-nine percent worth. Men need to take a lead role in addressing how to put an end to this cycle which travels from generation to generation in families. Men talking to men about their actions is a good starting point to creating an awareness of how very wrong Domestic Violence is. The victims are our mothers, our sisters and our daughters. Come to their defense so another child will ever have to see this happen again.

Today I visited The Crisis Center in Manhattan, Kansas. My meeting was with Executive Director, Judy Davis and Diana, an advocate for families. This center serves the needs of 5 counties including 2 metropolitan areas, Fort Riley Army Base and KSU. With the University beginning its new year and many soldiers returning to base, they are going to have their hands full.
Thank you to Karen Ingram for such a well written article in The Kansas State Collegian, so many students mentioned that they read her writing. It was a very good way to spread my message across a campus and a nice way to start the beginning of the school year. Having some great literature from The Women’s Center to  hand out on campus, helps to make students aware of healthy relationship choices talked about in Karen’s article.
Darla from Fort Riley stopped by The Kindness Bus before my evening ride to talk about how many nice sayings were written on its body. She brought some dog treats for Bogart and a donation for gas. Bogart now has about a years worth of treats waiting for him upon his return.

What are the chances of serendipitously finding the person who is the driving force behind educating students about healthy relationships and lifestyles in the first hour on the K-State campus, very good obviously. Mary Todd, Director of the K-State Women’s Center was in the Student Union with hundreds of various informational leaflets, making sure as many students as possible, learned of her organization. The Women’s Center teaches about dating safety, drinking and drugs, sexual abuse and making wise choices as a student on campus. Mary extended an invitation to come to the Women’s Center and learn about the important work she and her staff do on campus; it would take weeks, to just scratch the surface of the wealth of wisdom throughout her office. The University has a rare find on their hands.
Communications Coordinator, Olivia Blanco was so nice to help us find the directions to various buildings on campus. Upon learning of my mission she thought it worthy of being on the university’s Facebook page.
It was a great day to get a feel for this Manhattan, Kansas campus as I rode The Kindness Bicycle over most of its roads. The reaction by the student body was of great interest. Late in the day, Karen Ingram, Coverage Editor for The Kansas State Collegian interviewed me for an upcoming issue.
Thank you to Dr Priddle and his family for the interest in One Million Acts Of Kindness and The Kindness Bicycle/Bus Tour.

I love to visit the Veterans Hospitals. Everyone who visits is welcomed with open arms because the need is so great. Heroes who come to have their bodies and in many cases, minds mended, love to have visitors to come and talk with them. The heroes who are here for an extended stay are usually the loneliest, often forgotten by the general public.
I was greeted by Denise Cunningham, Volunteer Service Assistant Chief as I made my way to the volunteer section of the hospital. Nearly a week ago, Ray and Diana at Tokan Designs printed me a few shirts which announce my ride in the spring, for Wounded Warriors and Fallen Officers. Ray and Diana help the Veterans in the Topeka region and when they realized what my ride was all about, they provided me with my shirts free   he VA. These heroes will never be forgotten by Ray and Diana.
Larry McCoy, a volunteer and Veteran took today’s picture and got 2 big smiles by saying, “say rutabaga.”
Today I had a much needed break, with no scheduled ride, although the hour-long Kindness Bus ride to Manhattan, Kansas in 103 degree temperatures with no air conditioning was a workout in itself.

One hundred miles on a bicycle is something I have been looking forward to doing since I began The Kindness Bicycle/Bus Tour. I wanted to make this long of a ride meaningful and do it to create awareness of how infrequently Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual abuse are discussed.
Prevention is born out of awareness. Talking with age appropriateness to children needs to be commonplace. School programs are instrumental in the success of helping children to understand what boundaries should never be crossed. Unfortunately, school programs are too few and far between.
I am currently creating another puppet show for younger kids that will teach these children about boundaries relating to these issues without even mentioning Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse. I will use it every chance I have in the schools I visit.
Nathan and I both did this ride today, we rode an extra 2 miles just in case the calibration may have been off by a little.
During the Century Ride to End the Silence, The Kindness Bus was parked at Washburn University. Dr. Chris Hamilton, Professor of Peace Studies at the college, thought it would be a nice addition to his campus, on the first day of school for the new school year.

One of the biggest problems with Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse is that there isn’t enough conversation about these two issues. Because of that mind-set, most schools are reluctant to have education programs about these two issues being presented. Prevention and advance knowledge are the two most critical needs to combat Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse from continuing in our society.
Society not talking about these 2 issues, is like me riding across the United States with blank signs and not saying anything as well.