Summer Sunshine

Sun Clouds

Hi!

I hope this note finds you well and I’m glad that you are taking the time to visit BK2HK!

Here it is June already and in two months BK2HK will be celebrating it’s 25th anniversary! I created Be Kind to Humankind in August of 1988 because of a tragic accident I read about in our local press. To find out more please go to our “about” page.

There has been a lot going on in our nation and there have been many changes in our country as to who we once were as a nation. We used to be steeped in faith, family and friends, however the huge difference now is that the peace and comfort that we used to feel as a nation is gone.

Now there are terrorist attacks, school shootings, angry people taking out their anger by shooting massacres, road rage, hateful remarks spewed out in social media and more.

The one thing that we can be sure of is what my father once said, and that was “It has never hurt anyone to be a little kinder.”  A little more kindness is something this world can use. This is a fact. There cannot be any disputes about it. Showing kindness every day with simple acts of kindness is easy and very rewarding. It is also contagious. It spreads from one person to the next and then some!

Being kind makes the giver feel good. It also makes the recipient feel good. Being kind is healthy. Smiling creates less wrinkles on the face. Smile wrinkles are better than frown wrinkles anyway. Smiling (a little one, we don’t expect you to walk around looking like the joker in Batman!) is easy to pass along and it takes very little effort.

Smiles are free.

Being kind is free.

Being compassionate, thoughtful and caring is free.

Please remember that in the summer months, blood for local hospitals is in much need! I am now able to donate blood again after healing from knee replacement surgery. I hope that you will donate also! It’s a great way to be kind and save lives!

Visit the Red Cross website to find out more about donating blood.

Best Wishes for a great summer!

What is Love?

Love

What is Love?

Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it.

Touching words from the mouth of babes.

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds,

‘What does love mean?’

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined

See what you think:

‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’

Rebecca- age 8

‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’

Billy – age 4

‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.’

Karl – age 5

‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.’

Chrissy – age 6

‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’

Terri – age 4

‘Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.’

Danny – age 7

‘Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that.
They look gross when they kiss’

Emily – age 8

‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents
And listen.’

Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)

‘If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate, ‘

Nikka – age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)

‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day..’

Noelle – age 7

‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.’

Tommy – age 6

‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’

Cindy – age 8

‘My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.’

Clare – age 6

‘Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’

Elaine-age 5

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford .’

Chris – age 7

‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.’

Mary Ann – age 4

‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.’

Lauren – age 4

‘When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.’(what an image)

Karen – age 7

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross..’

Mark – age 6

‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.’

Jessica – age 8
And the final one

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there..

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

‘Nothing, I just helped him cry’

So true!

Help in Hurricane’s Wake

It has been a simply horrible situation for so many people since hurricane Sandy left it’s mark. We here in New Jersey have been hit hard by the storm as have many other communities. Thousands are homeless. Thousands are still without power. The gasoline lines remain very long. A lot of people are loosing their patience and fighting over gasoline, and there has been looting. I heard a story yesterday about some people pretending to be emergency personnel just so they can have immediate access to gasoline! Others are stealing gasoline from car tanks!

Although there have been many negative stories on the news concerning people in thier communities, there has also been positve stories being reported. Stories of people going to great lengthes to help others.

Below are some links to different sources of help. Please continue to try and maintane your patience in such difficult times. Our resolve is tested in these difficult times! I guess taking one day at a time is the best thing to do.

Stay Resilient
Stay Hopeful
Be Well

Lorraine

http://www.redcross.org/find-help

Salvation Army Sandy Help

Additional help for individual townships would most likely be accessible through your town halls.

Donations can also be sent directly to me at the address below.
Donations of all kinds are needed including warm clothing, canned goods, warm hats, warm scarves, blankets, warms socks mens and womens, toiletries, non-perishable items of any kind, and just about anything else you could think of that will be helpful to homeless individuals.
All donations will come directly to me. Thank you!!!

Lorraine Jara
Be Kind to Humankind/Hurricane Donation
1 Mountain Stream Court
Barnegat, NJ 08005

Summer’s End

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Well, another summer has come and gone and much too quickly for those of us who enjoy the hot weather!
I also hope that everyone had a great summer season and that it was filled with good times and good things!
BK2HK had a very successful celebration in August with many inquiries sent to me asking how they could participate in BK2HK’s week long observation of kindness and the ways that they could implement kindness in their communities!
One young lady, Jessica M. from Muscatine Iowa said that she would be out and about in her hometown spreading the news about BK2HK! She asked me if I had any handouts…so I mailed her some fliers, business cards, magnets and pens to hand out.
Jessica was so happy to have received them, and said afterward that her efforts were a great success!
She told me that not only did people stop and ask what she was doing, but that they loved BK2HK and were happy to receive the goodies.
Some people even asked if they could walk around spreading the news with her.
Thanks so much Jessica!

I only hope that you will stop and take the time to be kind daily, 365 days of the year…not just 1 week in August.
Small acts of kindness sure can go a long way!
A simple smile to a stranger, holding the door for others, mailing an uplifting card to someone you know who may need it, calling or better yet visiting your elderly or sick relative in a hospital or nursing home,volunteering even 1 day a month to something that interests you, donating unwanted items, donating to a local food bank, bringing doughnuts to your local police, ambulance or fire department to say “Thank you” for all that they do for the community. There are thousands of ways to show kindness…so please share your gifts of kindness to those around you.
Make your corner of the world a better place!
Decide to be Kind!

Stay Healthy
Stay Content
Stay Kind

Lorraine

Happy Be Kind to Humankind Week!!!

Pure Joy

I know you are a kindhearted person otherwise you would not be interested in visiting our site! So thank you and Happy BK2HK to you!

Be Kind to Humankind or BK2HK is celebrating its 24th year in existence this year! Wow.
It is hard to believe.
This uplifting celebration and focus on kindness began in August of 1988. Sometime in the fall of that year my husband came home from the library (yep we did any and all of our research at the library…very few people had PC’s back then), and he said to me…I was looking at a reference book in the library called Chases Book of Annual Events and it had all of these special celebrations in it. I brought you home a copy of the request form for you to fill out. Maybe they will publish your celebration .
So I filled out the form and mailed it in.
A couple of weeks later I received a letter in the mail from Chase accepting my request!
It has been in their book now for 23 years!
Because of Chase BK2HK really took off publicity wise.
I was conducting numerous telephone radio interviews along with newspaper interviews.
BK2HK was publicized in many books, magazines and newspapers at the time.
I laugh when I remember the day my dad called me and said “Did you look in the press today? Your Be Kind To Humankind weeks in there!!!” He said how the h#ll did you get it all the way into the Asbury Park Press??
He sadly passed away in 1990 at the age of 60yrs. old so he never had the opportunity to see just how far BK2HK has come!
If only he knew that one day it would be celebrated worldwide!
That is what I hope everyone remembers…that 1 person really CAN make a positive difference!
So with that being said…I thank you again for checking us out and I can only hope that you will always remember that 1 person CAN make a huge difference in this world.

Happy Be Kind to Humankind Week!!!

Stay Healthy
Stay Contented
Stay Kind

Lorraine

The Need for Blood Continues…Especially in the Summer Months.

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Our summer may be coming to an end soon, however the need for blood at your local American Red Cross Center is still necessary!

If it weren’t for my new prosthetic knee which was put in this past February, I would be continuing to give blood every 56 days. So please be so kind and save a life by donating blood!

Thank you and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Lorraine

Helpful Guidelines from Hygiene to Veggies!

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SAY YOUR PRAYERS. DOT YOUR I’S AND CROSS YOUR T’S. DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR. ALWAYS WEAR CLEAN UNDERWEAR. NEVER RUN WITH SCISSORS. SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU. TURN THE OTHER CHEEK. LISTEN TO YOUR ELDERS. BE KIND TO OTHERS. SAY YOUR SORRY. USE YOUR NAPKIN. DO AS YOU ARE TOLD. PLAY FAIR. WAIT YOUR TURN. DON’T SPIT . BRUSH YOUR TEETH. TELL THE TRUTH. EAT YOUR VEGETABLES.

 

-ANONYMOUS

Stay Cool….Stay Kind!!!

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This month marks the 24th anniversary of “Be Kind to Humankind Week”. I created BK2HK in late August of 1988. Read the “About” page for the full story.

This summer has proven to become quite a challenge for us to stay cool and kind and for those of us living within the weather band of extremely high temperatures and humidity it has been especially difficult!

Not only is it hot outside but we can also become hot-under-the-collar and totally impatient with just about everything and everyone! Work relations, personal relations and our daily interactions with strangers can become stressed and just plain intolerable at times!

These are the moments I ask you to challenge a difficult situation and try as hard as you can to find patience and tolerance within yourself and be kind to those whom you encounter. Hold the door for others, give up your seat to one who is standing and may need it more, let the person with fewer groceries or items go ahead of you in line if you have a lot more than they do, allow a car to enter into heavy stand still traffic if it is safe to do so, offer to be a designated driver on a social outing with friends, offer a cold drink to someone who is working in the heat, bring ice coffee and donuts to your Fire Department as a “Thank You” for all of their hard work, share a kind word, share a meaningful compliment, smile at strangers, be an encourager rather than a discourager, apologize when called for, donate blood for The American Red Cross, volunteer for a day at your local nursing home, volunteer doing something helpful for someone. Enjoy more ideas on ways to show kindness by viewing my daily suggestions.

Thanks for checking out BK2HK and Stay Cool…Stay Kind!!!

Lorraine

Happy June to all!

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Well…here we are in June. Happy June to all! Time has a way of flitting by us so fast…and as a matter of fact, so do the cars on our parkways here in Jersey! Slow down for heavens sake! I stay in the center lane doing 70 miles per hour and the other vehicles sharing the road with me zoom by so fast that I would guesstimate their speed at around 90 miles per hour!

Not everyone driving our freeways is looking for a severe accident to take place. My mom called me this morning and told me that it was fortunate that I did not go to her house in the morning because she heard on the radio of a terrible car accident on the parkway (ask me if I am surprised) and it left at least 1 person dead and the others air lifted to our trauma hospital. I pray that the others involved in this accident are ok…however this accident just proves what I have said all along…people drive way too fast on the Garden State Parkway and they weave in and out of traffic while doing so!

Do yourself and everyone else a huge favor and slow down, do not text or use your phone while driving (unless you us a hands free device to communicate), and pay close attention to those around you, whether those around you are in cars, on bicycles, walking or jogging. Be especially alert while driving in the late evening hours. Many people walk on the side of dark roads at terribly late hours sometimes, and it is so easy to hit them. So please keep an eye out for these walking night owls.

I am also going to ask you to donate a pint of your blood this month to the American Red Cross.
You can donate again in 56 days. Save a life, donate blood.

Check out our “Motorist Consideration Monday” page. Of course we stress to drive in a safe and courteous manner every day…not just on Monday’s.

Find an American Red Cross location near you

Read about the history of The American Red Cross

Thank you and have a safe, fun, wonderful summer!

Stay Healthy
Stay Happy
Stay Kind

Lorraine 8-)