An 8 year ride for kids

Put an end to Bullying & Adolescent Suicide

In year 3 of this mission, I introduced a bicycle ride to my travels to raise
awareness about issues kids are having to deal with at far too young an age.
Bullying and Adolescent Suicide are two of these challenging burdens most kids
will unfairly have to overcome throughout the remainder of their lives. At rides
end we will have ridden enough miles to traveled the perimeter of the earth, twice.
My mission on this ride has but one focus: To save kids lives.

The Bogart Channel

November 20th, 2011

This is going to be so much fun!!
Bogart has his own channel on YouTube called, The Bogart Channel. This week we begin creating videos with content that will be entertaining yet impactful. I am going to try to post at least 3 videos per week with Bogart front and center in the thick of the action.
With YouTube featuring one of the One Million Acts Of Kindness videos for one day last weekend and the video now having over 570,000 views, I have finally been inspired to grow this mission with a focus on incorporating more and more social media and networking as time goes by.
By weeks end, you will be able to view some videos on The Bogart Channel on YouTube. You can play a huge part by subscribing to this free channel. I am hoping you will and that you will share this with all of your friends and family.
Thank you,
Bob Votruba and Bogart too!!!

Going Global

November 19th, 2011

11-19-11San 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.

Heading to San Francisco

November 18th, 2011

11-18-11It 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.

Children’s Advocate Roundtable

November 17th, 2011

11-17-11Today 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.

Even Bogart Gets a Day Off

November 16th, 2011

11-16-11 ATomorrow 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.

Featured Video on YouTube

November 15th, 2011

11-15-11Why 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

Alpha Kappa Alpha

November 14th, 2011

11-14-11Carol 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.