Minervas - Women Changing the World

Trial

I have seen different faces in

Project Act of Kindness

A STORY & AN INVITATION…

I have seen different faces in this plac tarjetas act of kindness e, but a similar intention: to be early here with the hope to find a job for the day. So today I want to honor and celebrate your DIGNITY of work, the daily effort I imagine you make to be here, with the uncertainty of not knowing if you will be lucky, with expectations and hope. I want to celebrate your persistence to come back, overcoming fears of not being lucky that day. I want to honor the responsibility you show to bring an income to your family, may be wife, children or parents, accepting what I imagine conditions far from what you deserve, wish or need…

For all these reasons, I ask you to accept my humble acknowledgement, showing you my respect and above all, my affection and love.

This is just a small symbolic present, but it’s filled with love.

And it comes with a story. As I was walking a few days ago in my neighborhood, a woman came out of her home and we chatted briefly. She invited me to come into her house, although we just met, and she told me she sings in a church choir. She showed me some tote bags she was preparing as gifts for the people in the choir, and I shared with her that I also was planning to prepare bags for “the man that stands in the mornings on Riverland to get a job for the day”. How many are they? She asked. I don’t know, I replied. I was planning to do perhaps 10 or 12 bags.

She stepped out of the room and came back with a box which she handed to me. Here you have sixteen packages with cookies I baked”. I was in awe and you will find in your bag the package with the home made cookies of Francine.

This left me thinking. She didn’t know me, and gave me that present. And I don’t know you either, and I was preparing something special to bring a little joy to you. And then I got this idea: What if each one of you would find two strangers, to give them a little unexpected moment of joy? It doesn’t have to be something bought, just a gesture, an act of kindness, a spontaneous help.

So here is my invitation. I invite you to find TWO strangers in the next 24 hours, to whom you can give a little act of kindness, and you have to explain to them that in recognition, they need to pass it on, do something for TWO other people, also in the next day, to continue the chain of kindness.

Imagine this: I began with 16 people in this station, and if each one of you finds TWO other people, and asks them in turn to do an act of kindness for TWO other people, by January 24 2013 we together will have touched the heart of ONE MILLION FORTY SEVEN THOUSAND INDIVIDUALS! With a small act of kindness. Not bad!!! What a simple way to create a wave of love, to celebrate life, and what we all carry so sublime and valuable, the possibility to shine love onto others.

So I invite you to do it, and be part of this chain! You are one of the foundational SIXTEEN who will initiate this WAVE of gentleness. Who knows how far it will reach!!

So just do it. Find your two people. And VERY important, tell them they have to find TWO people each themselves, in the next 24 hours. (The time really doesn’t matter, but sometimes if we don’t do it immediately, then we forget… That would be a pity!

If you have access to email, you can share with me if you did it, writing to isabel.rimanoczy@minervas.org or in the Facebook of Minervas. Women changing the world: http://www.facebook.com/lasMinervas

December 2012

Project Share your Shoes

The first project was called Share your Shoes. We tried to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, and this reflection motivated us to initiate this project.
Suzanne Barash, a Minerva of the Aventura group, connected us with the non-profit organization Soles 4 Souls. This institution collects shoes, cleans and classifies them and finds new owners among those in need, in several countries around the world.
We set a goal to collect 750 shoes and so over the period of several months we worked on this initiative.

How does it feel to do an imaginary walk in someone else’s shoes?