A Year In the Life of a Kindness Project

Today I submitted a post for the Kindness Blog. I have been doing a lot of looking back at our year of the project and it prompted me to write a little about our story for a blog that draws more readers. Now, I have no way of knowing if they will use what I wrote, so I am posting it here as well. There are some insights into our project here that my followers might not know. The resistance we have overcome to continue sharing our smiles!

 

A Year In the Life of a Kindness Project….

A few days ago I looked at an alert on my smartphone, it showed me what I had posted on social media one year ago that day, and it reminded me of the beginning of what has been a long and rewarding journey into the world of kindness. The first post read:

 

"I think I am going to start a project. I just want to touch the lives of random people in a positive way. Put a little light into the world. *ponders*"

 

This small post started a flurry of discussion among my Facebook friends, and even some very unexpected responses.

 

At first, I received responses from friends and family who were helping me craft the idea that would eventually become the Somewhere Out There Project. We went back and forth about it all day long. I posted that I wanted it to involve something tangible, as I felt the world had become so ‘digital’. It was by far one of the most interesting and prolonged conversations I had ever had on Facebook. Eventually we settled on small wooden tokens that I would burn positive messages into and leave in random places for people to find. I nicknamed the tokens ‘smiles’.  But not everyone was smiling….

 

Enter my fiancés brother. Now my fiancé and I had been together for a couple of years at this point. I had met his family only a handful of times at holiday events. The family wasn’t very close, in stark contrast to my own family were holidays were filled with more people than you could fit into the house. They seemed nice enough folk to me, but I am also the optimistic type. I somehow seemed to think that everyone is kind and selfishness was not a real thing. In my head it was a logical conclusion of life to strive to be kind to others. I learned very quickly that this is not the reality of our world today.

 

Amidst the support and ideas and excitement generated by this conversation, my fiancés brother started posting about it. The extent to which he eventually went to tear down the concept of this project baffles me to this day. At first it was just your normal, ‘that’s a dumb idea’ comments. Eventually, though he turned it into vitriol. He ranted about how I shouldn’t be worrying about other people. How I should care only about myself and my own family. He eventually even started posted things on his main Facebook wall about how people waste their time on being kind to others. He was very upset about the whole thing in a way that my mind simply could not fathom. In my opinion, even if he was so selfish as to not want to be kind to others, why did he care so much that I did?

 

The whole scenario, which went on for a while as I persevered through the beginning of the project, altered my view of the world. It may sound silly that something so small would create such a huge issue but he was sending texts to us just condemning us as idiots for caring at all about the world at large. Personally, I was appalled that this type of attitude even existed. I had never met a person so negative in my life. It was, in some ways, hard for me to get past. I just couldn’t comprehend why it mattered so much to him and how he could be that unbelievably selfish. 

 

Eventually, we just moved forward with the project. With so much support from my other friends and families for the concept I went into it with all my heart. As I researched and learn more about kindness projects and initiatives I was both saddened by the fact that this selfishness I had found in someone in my own life happened often in our world but at the same time I was excited about all the people who were out there doing their own kindness projects on a daily basis.

 

After a successful Kickstarter campaign the project was born. One year later as I continue to craft the ‘smile’ tokens that have now reached multiple continents, countries, and states, I can’t help but smile myself because I have shown the world that somewhere out there, someone cares.

 

Stephanie Lassen

Somewhere Out There Project Creator

www.somewhereoutthereproject.com

@smileSOTproject

 

 

 

Happy One Year Anniversary!

A year ago this week I posted this status on Facebook, “I think I am going to start a project. I just want to touch the lives of random people in a positive way. Put a little light into the world. *ponders*”

After making that post I did ponder, quite heavily, on a way to make that small dream a reality. For the next couple of days I talked to quite a few of my friends and family who helped me hash out the details of what soon would become the Somewhere Out There Project. It was a fun and exciting time for me, finding a way to use my talents in a positive manner has always been important to me. Looking back it feels like everything just flew from there. I went from a small Facebook page and an idea to spread a little kindness to taking a crash course in learning the Twitter interface, building a webpage and supporting a successful Kickstarter campaign, and let’s not forget learning to write a blog. (Though I had dabbled in this before and this blog is more sporadically written than I would like). 

It was a crazy journey that went simultaneously too fast and too slow. A year later our project is in continents, countries and lots of states and I am still awed by the reach we have gotten. There have been mountains of changes in my personal life during this tumultuous year as well, but we have still managed to put out well over 100 smiles! In honor of our one year anniversary I would like to thank all of those who have been so supportive along the way and to let you know I will be reviving the blog and I will never stop sharing smiles!

Kindness Matters

Hello Smilers! I have had much to contemplate since my last posting here. I must admit since starting this project (www.somewhereoutthereproject.com) I have had my ups and downs. When I had the original idea I was so excited, and my friends and colleagues all loved it so I had a lot of support in my personal community. I imagined the project as this huge thing that would catch fire and spread kindness on a global scale. (These grand designs were fueled by many early events, including having international attention just days after posting the project on Facebook when a wonderful woman and one of our original Kickstarter backers asked for some tokens to put out in Perth, Australia. Of course, as all of my faithful smilers know the project is still modest and in many ways still in its infancy, but as the project has evolved it seems that I go through phases, days will come and go with no real sense that my effort is having any sort of impact on anyone. At times it is discouraging, I am just so often hoping to touch just one person with my kindness and make their day a little brighter, that I wonder how often it is actually working. That’s the thing with kindness, it is so often overlooked in our everyday hustle and bustle. I am determined to continue to make it a daily part of my life, because I know that touching just one person in a time that they may need that kindness will be worth all of the work and effort I put into the project.

And it seems that every time I start to think I am getting nowhere with the project there is one small light that brings me back to the entire reason I started the project in the first place. The latest case of this was last Friday. I went to Walmart after work to grab a few things for the house and I left a token there. Shortly after I got home there was a post on the project Facebook that a young girl had found the token and she was very excited about it. This is what the project is all about! Touching just one life, making that small change, sharing that smile! I wanted to thank each and every one of you who have helped make this project what it is. For those out there spreading kindness of your own, never think that it goes forever unnoticed, because someday, somewhere out there, someone will appreciate you for it. To all those who have shared and been a part of my mission, let’s keep sharing those smiles!

Smiles to Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital and Hope for baby Dana

Hello Smilers!

 

I have some great news today! I told everyone in my previous posts that I have been attempting to contact hospitals and schools across the country to try to get others involved in handing out our smiles. I have received a very excited email from the marketing manager at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital. On the week of May 10^th-16^th they are celebrating hospital week and would love to incorporate putting out smiles into their celebration! Our dear friend Hilary wants to put out the smiles and even write about and take pictures of the people who receive them. She even plans on trying to get them to post to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/somewhereoutthereproject) about what the token meant to them. This is very exciting for me and I can’t wait to go home tonight and start making some smiles for Vermont!

 

This week for my kindness story I would like to focus on a member of my online ‘family’. For those of you who do not know this about me, I play World of Warcraft online avidly. I am a part of a very large guild and we have a huge community. This week we found out that one of our members was in need of some help. Our friend Neil has a 3 month old daughter who has suffered from cardiac arrest. Right now, Dana’s parents are not working in order to stay by her side while she is in the hospital. In order to help them pay for expenses during this trying time we have set up a fundraiser for them. If you want more information on it please go to www.gofundme.com/HopeFundforDana. We appreciate any help and support offered!

 

That’s all for today smilers! Soon I will post some photos of the smiles that will be making their way to Vermont! Keep smiling!

Places, Places Everywhere!

Welcome Smilers! I’d like to start showcasing acts of kindness here on my blog in the hopes that they will inspire some of us smilers to find new ideas to spread kindness. 

Today I would like to tell you about a sandwich shop in Oklahoma City. The owner of PB Jams recently noticed that it seemed like someone was taking food out of the dumpster at the restaurant. In a great act of kindness she posted a sign that said she would give a free sandwich and some veggies to whomever asked for them. Shortly after, Ashley’s good deed went viral. The response prompted Ashley to start the #Sharethenuts campaign where her customers can purchase extra meals and are given a nut shaped paper to post on the wall. Any customers can come in and redeem those nuts for a free meal. Ashley’s business is growing steadily because of the attention her good deeds are getting. I think it is great to know that there are still business owners out there who want to spread kindness and that they will be rewarded for it. Salute to you Ashley! As for our project today, I have been trying to find new and creative places to place our smiles. Lately I have been putting them around works of art, which I think is really neat.

I love all the support the project is getting from various places and it would be awesome to see that support here on this blog. If you’ve come to read this today then I am sure you know what the power of one small act of kindness can do. Please comment on my blog and let me know if you have a good idea of a place where our smile tokens should be put out!

Spread Positivity!

Hello smilers! I trust you are all having an awesome day and sharing kindness everywhere you go! 

 

I spoke last week about getting our smiles out there, and I have contacted a few places (hospitals and schools) so hopefully I will hear back from them soon. 

 

Today I just wanted to ask some of you a quick question, what message would you put on your smile? I try to make sure it is only one word, and I have come up with some great positive ones, but I am sure you guys could come up with some as well. Some of the examples I have used in the past are ‘Kindness, Happiness, Life, Love, Hope, Success, Motivation, Determination…etc.’ If you found a token what message would have the greatest impact on you? What is you ‘Somewhere Out There’?

 

Thanks all and can’t wait to get some new ideas going!

Let's Share Some Smiles!

Welcome back Smilers!

 

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately considering how to grow the project in order to reach more people with our smiles. I have decided that I need to add a new focus to the project. While I always enjoy sharing smiles wherever I can, I want to make certain others get to share some smiles as well.

 

Since the beginning of the project I have tried to reach out anywhere I can in order to help share smiles where they are most needed. I shipped smiles out to the Children’s Hospital here in Madison, WI, as well as shipping out some smiles to FSU shortly after the tragic shooting (faculty told me they would be happy to put them out for students to find). I was hoping to get photos on these occasions but alas, I did not. While that was a bit disappointing, I don’t think it should stop me from continuing to reach out to others. To that end, I may try contacting some more hospitals, but I also wanted to open up this discussion to my Smilers! Do you have any ideas you think would help us get some smiles out to those who might need it today? Visit the website if you want a better idea of what we have done so far (www.somewhereoutthereproject.com). Comment and let me know!

Let's Get Started!

Welcome to the SOT Project blog! This is technically the second blog I have started for the project. I wasn't impressed by the original blog host I was using so I've migrated over to Blogger. 

In project news a new backer supported us this week! A big thank you to Deborah Thomas (@DTNEtiquette) for her generous donation. Her tokens are already on their way to Ohio! 

Another big piece of news, I will be reworking the website in the upcoming weeks and using a nice template to make it easier to navigate and more interesting. 

If you didn't get to read my original blog I going to post a few of the posts from it here so you can still read them if you'd like. 

Next week I am going to talk a little bit more about what our project has done so far and what the future holds for us. Until then, keep smiling!

Thursday, October 9th 2014

World Smile Day!

Today is world smile day! In celebration I thought there would be nothing better than posting our first blog post today. For those of you who are curious about the project please visit our facebook page (www.facebook.com/somewhereoutthereproject), as the history of the project can be seen there. You can view all of our smiles that have gone out since the start of the project! Eventually, I will get this information moved over to the website, but as you can see by my lack of grand design, I am still learning how to make the website function. This is the first website I have tried to create and what a great reason to do so! Today is World Smile Day and I have been on Twitter trying to get us as much notice as possible. I put out a smile today as well and hopefully someone will find it and smile this evening! Since the inception of this project I have been very passionate about making this a global experience. I have a press release written and I am trying to get it out there (although this is more difficult than one would think). For those of you following from the beginning take heart that we will keep moving forward! Have a great world smile day!!

Friday, October 10th 2014

World Mental Health Day

Our smile today goes out in honor of World Mental Health Day! Making people smile is a great way to brighten people's day, you never know who might be touched by such a gesture. Let's all look after each other and let others know that there is someone somewhere out there. Pretty soon out Kickstarter backers should be receiving their tokens and we may get photos of new smiles!

Saturday, October 18th 2014

Happy Sweetest Day

So I was made aware this morning that today is a holiday called Sweetest Day. Having spent my life in the Southwest I was not ever introduced to this holiday. From what I gather it is something akin to a national candy day, with undertones of Valentine's Day. Now I know some people probably think its just another commercialized holiday, and they are probably right, but to me I feel like any excuse to spread cheer and happiness is worth having. If I could make every day a holiday I would because we all need a little more joy in our lives!

Tuesday, October 21st 2014

#BeAHero #ContinueTheQuest

For those of you who don't know there is a new movement right now called 'The Quest: Project Hero' the call is to do a heroic or kind deed on Oct. 23rd. Here is a link to the Facebook event (Project Hero). Please join us in making a difference!

On that note here is our smile for yesterday. I will be sitting down tomorrow and building the digital photo album for our project and those backers who have donated for one! Stay tuned for my first 'real' blog post. I mean to get long and involved and discuss how the project is going and how it has affected my life.

Sunday, October 26th 2014

Extralife 2014

Yesterday I participated in Extra Life 2014! My fiance and I streamed Destiny most of the day to help raise money for the Children's Miracle Network. We had an awesome time and I hope that next year we can make an even bigger difference!

I made a token into a pendant today so that I can show my support of the project every where I go! I can't wait to make more of them for our contributors!

Tuesday, October 28th 2014

#NationalChocolateDay

We set a smile out at the gas station for #NationalChocolateDay! I am working on an idea make us a little more active for #GivingTuesday. When I have hammered out a few more of the details I will post a full blog article about the project. Really hoping it pans out!

Friday, November 14th 2014

#WorldKindnessDay

Yesterday was World Kindness Day and it was a great day here at the project! We got two new donations that will help us bring smiles to the Children's Hospital here in Madison and we also had someone who found a token post on our Facebook! Just proof that perserverance pays off!

Tuesday, December 2cd 2014

#GivingTuesday

Today is Giving Tuesday! Giving Tuesday is designed to remind people that giving is important after the big rush of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. My Black Friday week is always very busy, because I work retail, but I still found time to put out some smiles!