When talking to my audiences I like to inform them that I hope to inspire each and every one of them in attendance. One of my talks, centers on the fact that at some point in everyone’s life, each one of us will have the opportunity to dedicate the remainder of our life to a charity. The opportunity doesn’t happen too often in one’s life so it is imperative to stay aware of your own personal calling. Being cognizant of this, you will know when the timing is right for you. To me, there are 5 criteria which must be met before you can dedicate the rest of your life to a charity. I like to refer to it as having the POWER. The acronym is as follows;
P = Passion. You must have incredible passion for what you want to do. I use the analogy that you would jump through the TV screen to hold the baby who is suffering.
O = Opportunity. Every now and then the window of opportunity is open for you to do whatever you wish with your life. Your responsibilities are minimum and no one or thing is relying on you to hold you from doing what you wish.
W = Want. You have to want to help with your whole heart. You have to care so much, that you would give up your comfortable lifestyle and live amongst those you wish to help, even if it means having to live in the conditions of a third world country.
E = Educated. You have to be educated in every facet of what you are about to undertake. It has to be a win-win situation, where everyone benefits. I use the example of drilling wells in Africa. If you drill wells to bring water to villagers of a town but the water takes from the aquifer and another nearby village’s wells dry up because of your drilling, it is not a win-win for everyone.
R = Resources. You have to have the money or money from others to support your efforts for a lifetime. Oftentimes, you have to sacrifice various aspects of what comfort level you are accustomed to, to have the resources to provide for those you are helping.
Once you have the POWER, you are ready to go take on the world.
Please help us spread our message of a Goal of Kindness to schoolchildren across the country. Your donations are crucial to making this a reality.
Mail donations to:
One Million Acts Of Kindness
PO Box 770054
Lakewood, OH 44107
You can also donate through PayPal:
Bogart is my travel companion on The Kindness Bus Tour for the next ten years. We will be on the road traveling to campuses across the country. Bogart is a eight year old Boston Terrier. He is a great people dog... he loves meeting new people. I am Bogart's fourth owner in his short 8 years of life... Not because of him but because his three previous owner's lifestyles changed after they took him in... Lucky for me!! Bogart is the luckiest, most spoiled dog on the face of the earth. He loves the bus and he loves to travel. Please come and visit him when we are on your campus.
The Blue Bird Corporation donated this amazing bus to One Million Acts of Kindness, allowing us the continue this initiative. It has been painted to closely resemble the original Kindness Bus. It will last well beyond the ten years of this mission. A very big thank you to Blue Bird from Bob Votruba and Bogart too!!
The original Kindness bus has been donated to a professor at Virginia Tech who will use it on campus and at schools in the Blacksburg area. The Kindness Bus will continue to inspire and comfort residents, students and visitors in that area for years to come.
One Million Acts Of Kindness is a goal. A goal for each person to individually perform One Million Acts Of Kindness in their life. Can you imagine a greater goal for one's life? It is a constant mind-set of kindness every day of your life for the next fifty-five years. Doing for others and kindness in your heart for everyone. It is my wish that you will dedicate your life to a charity... finding the passion in your heart for something or someone in need.
As a father of three college age kids I am concerned for the world in which all kids will live. A great way to create a safer, more caring world is for everyone to start their lifetime goal of One Million Acts Of Kindness. So I bought a bus, had about sixty family members, friends and neighbors help paint it and began a ten year journey with my Boston Terrier, Bogart, to college campuses across the country hoping to convince as many of you as possible about this much needed movement for this world. I love you guys too much to sit back and not do anything about this. Let's start a kindness movement in this country today to change the direction this world is headed!! You are the change that this world needs.