San Francisco offers something for everyone, no matter who you are or where you are from, every culture and nationality is represented in this global melting pot. I love being a part of the global mix. We may not all speak each other’s language or know of the differences in each others cultures or religions but we all have the ability to be kind, each and every one of us. It’s a choice.
Mehdi and Nora from Paris, France who are on holiday and have decided to spend it in San Francisco with their friend Alex who is here for three months growing his IT business, stopped by The Kindness Bus and couldn’t get enough of it’s appeal. They thought France was ready for a Kindness Movement across It’s landscape.
Savio from Singapore and I talked of the Domestic Violence in his country and his initial feelings were that it wasn’t much of a problem in Singapore.   The more we talked the more he thought about it and said, “I never have given it much of a thought but it probably is quite a problem.”
Riding in San Francisco is as good as it gets. With all of the sights and sounds of this city, I have to remember to keep my eyes on the road ahead of me.

It is time to get some serious view time for The Kindness Bus and Kindness Bicycle. I have had a great stay in San Jose and Sunnyvale, but it is time to head north to San Francisco. Many thanks to my adopted sister, SaraSmiles, for the generosity and hospitality, helping to make my travels quite a bit easier.
I look forward to meeting people from all parts of the world. To me, this is one of the greatest ways to spread a Kindness Movement. People from foreign countries who head back home and tell family and friends about an amazing bus, an amazing dog named Bogart and a guy named Bob who drives the bus and rides a bike across his country. How can they not want to spread kindness in their countries after hearing a story like that.
San Francisco has some incredible people, beautiful architecture and very steep hills, which will be a challenge to the 21 year old Kindness Bus and a slightly older Kindness Bicycle rider named Bob. I am looking forward to the two weeks of spreading kindness I have planned in San Francisco.

Today I was the guest of The Children’s Advocacy Institute, attending their Roundtable in Sacramento, California. The brightest minds from across the State of California gathered together to discuss the needs of children. Two topics of discussion were the main focus.
Chantel Johnson and Janay Swain from the California Youth Connection presented on the welfare of children, with respect to foster care. With so many cuts in funding to foster programs, a constant eye must be kept on pending and newly proposed legislation. Their organization has their finger on the pulse of any and all changes that affect youth across the state.
Dusty Copeland, an advocate for children, gave a passionate presentation on Meeting the Health Needs of California’s Foster Children. She is fighting to protect the rights of medically fragile foster children across her state. Children are being placed in foster care with no medical history forwarded to the foster homes, which on most occasions, have no medical training. Triage Homes are the answer, providing health care professionals, helping in transition into the new home and knowing of all the state services available.

Tomorrow marks the end of the originally planned 7,400 mile Kindness Bicycle / Kindness Bus Tour. The next five weeks I am riding an additional 1,000 miles in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. It still amazes me that 6 months have passed by so quickly. Today was a very short ride just south of San Francisco. I discovered a Dog Park and realized that Bogart could use some recreation. Every Dog Park we have visited across the country, Bogart rules it as if it is his domain; this one today was no exception.
I am excited about my upcoming visits to San Francisco and Los Angeles. These large population centers will afford me the opportunity to have nearly a million people view The Kindness Bus and Kindness Bicycle. We, as caring individuals, are ready to have the world embrace kindness as a constant mind-set. One person, doing his or her part as an individual, by the hundreds of millions in this country and by the billions around the globe. It all begins with you.

Why is this man celebrating?
I had just received news from my son, Alex, that YouTube was featuring a short film clip of One Million Acts Of Kindness at the beginning of The Kindness Bicycle / Kindness Bus Tour in New York City this past May. The film clip ran on Youtube on Sunday of this past weekend.
Debbie Egan-Chin reporter for The New York Daily News put together this video and news story which ran in her paper in late May. In the one day time period that this piece was featured on YouTube, this past weekend, over 400,000 viewers chose to watch the video.
It is amazing to me that I had just written a blog called, “Viral Impact,” a little over a week ago about the possibility of One Million Acts Of Kindness “going viral,” if YouTube or another form of social media decided to promote what I do.
Thank you to the “powers that be” at Youtube, for helping to spread the word about all of us having a goal of kindness in our lives…a goal of One Million Acts Of Kindness. My sincerest gratitude, Bob Votruba and Bogart too!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVBf_3q8Ao8

Carol Noreen Executive Director of Casa in Sacramento told me about Alpha Kappa Alpha. This sorority helped to found CASA in this city. I admit that I hadn’t heard of AKA so I decided that I should research the organization. The first item on their website I noticed was their motto; “Service to All Mankind.” This all-women, African American sorority gets involved in all sorts of service projects to help others across the nation, and has been doing so since being founded in 1908. The program initiatives recognize the heightened needs of our youth.
A week after learning about the AKA, I met a woman who was wearing a bright green and pink leather AKA coat. She was standing in line in front of me at a restaurant. I walked away without making any conversation. Her not easy to miss coat was talking to me and I realized how could I walk away and not thank her after this serendipitous connection? The coat was worn by Gloria from the Atlanta Chapter of the AKA. I told her of my recent knowledge of AKA and of my mission and thanked her for all of the work her group does, especially for children.
Today was the 3rd day of a four day break from riding The Kindness Bicycle.

I met Schev and his wife Diane during my extended stay in Boulder, Colorado. They are a remarkable couple. Schev was busy working on his computer, in his chair when I walked by him the very first time. From the look of pride in his eyes, I could tell he had a story he wished to share with me. We talked for a while on a few occasions, and it was after those talks that he shared with me that he had written a book.
Schev’s book of poetry “The Heart of True Love” is a compilation of the many writings Schev has been working on throughout most of his life. It is a very comforting read. It is just the type of book one should read to quiet one’s mind. Thank you Schev for the wonderful gift of poetry for all of us to enjoy.
Today was the 2nd of four days off, from riding The Kindness Bicycle, It feels great to take some time off!!