It was a busy day of riding and visits to local points of interest. The day started with swapping out the tires on The Kindness Bicycle. I have been getting too many flat tires from road debris on my smooth tires so I went back to the chunky hybrid tires that create a lot of drag, but will not be affected by small debris. With the small amount of miles I need to ride every day, these tires won’t have a big impact overall.
Pearl, the secretary to the Principal at Cibola High School, thought The Kindness Certificates were a great way to get students involved in a lifetime goal of kindness. I arrived near school day’s end as many parents arrived to pick up their children. I received nothing but positive feedback from everyone I drove by or spoke with.

The final piece has been added to the bully campaign. It addresses the bully and the actions towards others. It is as follows:

While in Rio Rancho, New Mexico today, 2nd grade teacher, Jennifer, was blown away by the look of The Kindness Bus. She is teaching her students about kindness and how one person can have a huge impact in the world. She and I had a great conversation about visiting her classroom later this week.
Roy, a Veteran of Afghanistan and his son Dylan who is in 1st grade, stopped by The Kindness Bicycle. Roy expressed his interest in helping The Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes.

On October 10th 2010, (10/10/10) film makers from every country around the world, sent in films they had created to have a chance at being included in a film called One Day on Earth, created by Kyle Ruddick and Brandon Litman.
Film maker, Gina Fortunato spent two days filming what I do during the course of these days with One Million Acts Of Kindness. Some of the work she had created was already  shown on the Oprah Network as PSAs.
Today, One Day on Earth premiers at movie theaters around the world.
The Film premier is happening on Sunday at the UN General Assembly.
This will be the flagship event of over 300 screenings happening in 160+ countries. Here is the link to the One Day on Earth site and the Global Screening Trailer.

What an incredible honor it is to be included in this global project. A heartfelt thank you to Gina, Kyle and Brandon.

I met Associate Superintendent of Arizona Schools, Kathryn Hrabluk several days ago in Phoenix. She is in the School Effectiveness Division. We were in the downtown area of this town at one of the school’s office buildings. She happened upon The Kindness Bus and had to stop and see what it was all about. She was sold on its message before we began talking! “I love the bus,” she said. After talking with her for a while, I realized her connection with the Arizona Schools.
My thought immediately went to the Kindness Certificates and the possibility of spreading them to every school district in Arizona. If she loves the messages on The Kindness Bus, how could she not love the goal of kindness of the Kindness Certificates. Boy was I right and I’m crossing my fingers!

I wrapped up a long day yesterday and was back at The Kindness Bus locking up The Kindness Bicycle. Abel and his daughter Zoe drove up to me in their car. Abel told me of how The Kindness Bus and Bicycle inspired his daughter. She loved the messages and all that was written and wanted to share her feelings about some of them. We talked for a while and took some photos. It was a moment shared by a father supporting his daughter for her viewpoints on having a goal of kindness. This connection was in sharp contrast to an encounter which took place a few hours earlier.
While riding, I took a wrong turn on The Kindness Bicycle and ended up in a not so desirable neighborhood. Thinking nothing of it, I approached a house in total disrepair with all the windows and doors looking like they had been boarded up for sometime. Three adult men, a woman and a few children were hanging out in the back yard. I rode by the property with the side of The Kindness Bicycle that has the sign, Riding for Police and Firefighters killed in the line of duty, facing them. One of the men started shouting out at me to “get this out of my neighborhood,”  “get out of here” and “get that sign out of here.” Of course there were several other words he included that I won’t include in this article.
These are two examples of what type of role models parents are to their children. It breaks my heart to see the lives some children have, because of their parents. Teaching children respect for authority, especially those who have given their lives in the line of duty, is a core value that many kids are not learning from parents. “Teach respect,” is one of my favorite writings on The Kindness Bus.
Today I traveled north into Albuquerque, New Mexico and arrived earlier than expected. It allowed me to visit the New Mexico State Police and Fire Station 13 to have some great conversations with these local Heroes. The generosity at both stops was incredible. I am going to enjoy this town for the next few days.

People Helping People is the motto of this town and it lives up to it for sure. I started the day a little groggy and Peter, who works at a local restaurant noticed my fuzziness and provided a free coffee with my breakfast sandwich. It really hit the spot.  Low on flyers I hand out, Sandy from a local printing shop gave me enough free copies for a few days. This sort of hospitality happened all day long. What a gracious community.
Deputy Fire Chief Andrew Bencomo was thrilled to see The Kindness Bicycle pull up to the Front door of his Firehouse. He and I talked about reaching kids at an early age with solid messages. He is training for a marathon and I gave him advice on not skipping any of the long training runs as I did several years ago. Ouch!
The first person I met heading into Police Headquarters was Sandy, who works for the Las Cruces Police Department. She was at Ground Zero as a Chaplain for 9 months and offered her moral support as The Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes ends at Firehouse 10 in Ground Zero.
Police Chief Richard Williams took the time out of his busy day to meet with me. He is a big supporter of getting a strong message to kids. He gave me his words of support and a Police department patch and pin. We had a great visit talking about his town.
A huge One Million Acts Of Kindness thank you to Steve Ramirez and Robin Zielinski, Las Cruces Sun-News reporter and photographer for the great interview.
KRWG reporter Tiffany interviewed me in the late afternoon for the local University television station.
Thank you to Tom Townsend a Las Cruces for the inspiring words.
Las Cruces is all about People Helping People…and with a view like the photo above, from Wikipedia, how can you not visit this city.
Thank you to everyone for making my visit to Las Cruces a great one.

I always meet the nicest people at VA Hospitals, today in Tucson was no exception. I visited this Center this morning before an all afternoon drive to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Helen Glass who was in the Navy during WWII as an Aviation Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class was one of the first persons I talked with today. She has been volunteering for the hospital for more than 34 years. She told me stories as if they happened yesterday, not 70 years ago. What a wonderful woman. She was thrilled to stand with me by The Kindness Bicycle.
Kathy, another woman with Voluntary Services was thrilled as well to see such a sight on her campus.
Staff Psychiatrist on duty talked with me about the healing power of positive messages for Veterans. She said that my visits to the hospitals with The Kindness Bicycle goes a long way in helping these men and women feel proud about their service to our country. I stopped and talked with the Chaplain’s secretary. He is going to post the information about The Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes. On my way back to The Kindness Bus, I met with Bernice, a nurse who talked as well about the healing power of positive messages. This is the least I can do for these Heroes.