Little Things Make A Big Difference

PassTheKindness.com- Little Things Make a Big Difference

The History of PassTheKIndness.com

It all started one summer when the smoke from the Northern California fires prevented kids from enjoying the great outdoors. Football camp had been cancelled, again, and the kids were bouncing off the walls. Nothing to do….and so they began to pick on each other and focus their thoughts on the negative, whining, complaining and teasing seemed a legitimate way to fight the boredom. A family meeting convened.

We discussed the idea that it is just as easy to focus on the positive as it is the negative. It also feels better for everyone when we choose the positive. We talked about how our world highlights negativity; television news, newspapers and the movies, not to mention political campaigns. It is rare to hear about what’s going right. We soon became aware of our thinking and successfully made the afternoon a delight. It was a small change in our thoughts but it had a big effect.

Later that night, a friend told the story of how she had passed along a wristband our family had given her to someone who was feeling sad. A light went on. We could pass out wristbands to help the world focus its thoughts on the positive. In this way we could make a tangible difference that would show caring and concern for others.

The next two months turned into a gigantic brainstorming session. Positive thoughts led to creative ideas which in turn led to the inspiration to make the world a better place. We decided to take the “Pay it Forward” idea and bring it to life. The result: we created a company in which, Kara, age 10 and Kevin, age 8 took positions as CEO’s and Jake, age 6 and Luke, age 3, became vice presidents. We scheduled a board meeting every day. Each one of us had a mailbox for interoffice mail and each one of us had a job to complete before we reconvened the next day. Kara created the name of the company and Jake drew a picture of the logo. Kevin decided we needed rainbow-swirled wristbands and Luke decided he should have his own personal organizer.

Kara and Kevin took pride in their position in the company and were instrumental in designing the website from how things should look, to having games to play. We spent our summer creating the company, developing the website and dreaming of how we could make the world a better place.

Here are the details of our dream: The initial distribution of 1,000 wristbands to inspire kindness chains in six different countries and more than 20 cities. Kids will earn wristbands by demonstrating one act of kindness. Acts of kindness range from holding a door for someone to recording the reading of a book and delivering it to a shut-in. The wonderful thing is that each child can decide for himself or herself what gifts and resources he or she wants to use to make the world a better place. Kids can receive a wristband from a teacher, community leader or another kid who has already earned a wristband.

After kids earn a wristband, they are asked to:

1. Log onto PassTheKindness.com and share how, when, and where they performed their act of kindness. Each wristband is labeled with a unique 6-digit ID code.

2. Kids then look for another kid performing an act of kindness who will eventually pass on that same wristband.

Each recipient is asked to pass on their wristband within 72 hours of receiving it. This will help kids be on the look out for positive happenings, do positive things themselves and keep the chain going.

3. Kids explain to the receiver how to log on to the website, look for kindness, and how to pass it on!

4. Kids can return to the website numerous times to see where their wristband has traveled. A map of the world tracks each unique wristband chain and displays each location of the acts of kindness. Kids create a profile page and can view comments from other wristband recipients. They are also encouraged to leave kind words for other recipients.

In addition, there are games to play and activities to enjoy that will inspire further acts of kindness. PassTheKindness.com is a website by kids and for kids who share the commonality of an act of kindness to make the world a better place.

PasstheKindness wants to inspire the first 1,000 kids that receive a wristband to inspire at least ten others to perform an act of kindness; that’s 10,000 acts of kindness inspired by the one idea to make the world a better place. Kindness is the most powerful interpersonal tool we human beings have to positively connect with one another. It crosses barriers of race, religion, culture, age and gender. We begin to understand that we are intrinsically connected to those around us through the kindness we give and receive. The fact is, that if we desire change in a big world, we must focus on the little things we can do today.

Wristbands chains have been started in England, Portugal, Ecuador, Panama, Africa, France, Canada and Indonesia. They also were started in California, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, Washington, Colorado, South Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Connecticut. PasstheKindness has also teamed with the Boys and Girls Club of America and the YMCA After-school Program.

Amidst all the political, religious and economic turmoil in our world, we hope our simple idea will inspire thousands of acts of kindness and motivate us all to remember that it’s just as easy to think and act positively as it is to think and act negatively.

Little things do make a big difference.

Press Release

Contact: Kelley Kremer

(530) 592-6038

Email:kkremer@digitalpth.net

www.PassTheKindness.com

For Immediate Release

4 KIDS, 1,000 WRISTBANDS AND 10 COUNTRIES EQUAL A BETTER WORLD

Simple Acts of Kindness Make a Big Difference

Four young kids in Northern California are taking it upon themselves to make the world a better place. Kara, age 10, Kevin age 8, Jake age 6, and Luke age 3 decided to create change by inspiring acts of kindness in other kids and created a business to do just that. Kara and Kevin took positions as CEO’s while Jake and Luke became Vice Presidents. Kara created the company’s name and Jake drew the logo. Kevin decided to have rainbow-swirled wristbands and Luke decided that he wanted his own personal organizer.

The organizers of PassTheKindness built their company and website on the idea that one small act of kindness inspires a chain reaction of multiple acts of kindness. The idea for the company was inspired by a story of how one person in a gesture of kindness gave on a wristband to a friend who was having a bad day.

PassTheKindness began its campaign by giving out 1,000 wristbands in fifteen US cities, and the countries of Panama, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, Australia, Portugal and England and Indonesia. New countries are being added every week. Wristbands were handed out to teachers, community leaders and kids’ organizations.

PassTheKindness allows kids from all over the world to go to the PassTheKindness.com website and submit stories, pictures, and feedback for other kids pertaining to acts of kindness. It’s a website by kids and for kids who share one small kindness each day. They are asked to pass their wristband to a child showing kindness and that child does the same. Kids across the globe will be able to track the results of their kindness by the six-digit code on the wristbands. They’ll know who received their kindness, who passed it on and how far their kindness went. More than one-thousand kids have already participated, and the four kids who organized PassTheKindness hope to reach more than ten-thousand by February 1, 2009; one-thousand wristbands and ten-thousand kids, all working to change the world through kindness.

PassTheKindness believes that simple acts of kindness make the world a better place. These kids are taking the lead in encouraging others to act kindly. Little things done over and over again have the greatest effect. These kids are acting on the premise that if you want to make the world a better place, you should start with yourself. And they are.