32for32 Project Complete!
For the past few weeks my wife and I have been doing these free youtube workouts from Fitness Blender. They’re pretty awesome and you should check them out. Anyhow, at the end of every nearly barf-inducing workout it will say “WORKOUT COMPLETE” on the screen and it feels like you made it. Then you want to eat a whole pizza. I’m just kidding.
Anyhow, it feels good to accomplish something, whether it’s a workout, assignment, or a big project. In my last post I wrote about my 32for32 Project: I was going to do 32 acts of kindness for my 32nd birthday in order to educate people about Congenital Heart Defects. Well I did it! PROJECT COMPLETE!
I worked pretty hard to plan out this project, choosing where I would go and when, and I did a lot of early legwork to download wish lists and contact the people I needed to contact. I did a really awesome interview with the Union County Weekly, who posted a wonderful article on their front page, and I even did a quick radio interview with New Life 91.9. As we got closer to the 14th, the day the project was to start, I ran into some problems…SNOW.
No, not him.
So the Charlotte area decided to have the most snow in a decade. A whopping 8 inches. Now where I’m from in Connecticut, that’s child’s play…but here? Freakin’ APOCALYPSE. There’s no snow plows and everyone just gets stuck at home. Well of course, the snow was still on the ground on Thursday, so I got several messages from my 32for32 stops that they would be closed on Friday. Great. I ended up having to be really creative with changing my schedule around to accommodate everything or even add new things. In the end it all worked out.
So on Friday we decided to brave the snow together as a family (it was pretty melty by then) and hit the ground running. By Monday the 17th at 4:30pm, I was DONE with the project. Here’s the list from 1 to 32:
1. Welcome our new neighbors
2. Help a neighbor get her car up her snowy driveway
3. Giving scratch-off tickets to a waitress at a local pizza place (she won $20)
4. Buying someone’s meal at that pizza place
5. Buying a gift certificate from the pizza place and giving it to a cashier at Fami…ly Dollar
6. Bringing food and diapers to With Love From Jesus
8. Paying for someone behind me in the drive-thru
9. Bringing fresh cinnamon bread to Union County Health Department Employees
10. Bringing clothes for a tough little heart baby
11. Donating food and other items for the Union County Community Shelter
12. Giving Blood with the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas
13. Going to Great Clips and paying for someone’s haircut
14. Bringing lunch to one of the Producers at church
15. Donating clothes to Goodwill
16. Giving a gift card to a Starbucks barista
17, 18, 19, 20. Cards for some special people
21. A card for a deployed soldier via Operation Gratitude
22. A gift for our mail carrier
23. Reading a story to kindergarteners at Poplin Elementary School
24. Donating formula to H.E.L.P Crisis Pregnancy Center
25. Bringing bagels and CHD Awareness bracelets to nurses at Levine Children’s Hospital
27. Bringing donuts for the residents of Ronald McDonald House
28. Donating clothes to Crisis Assistance Ministry
29. Donating 20 pounds of items for Second Harvest Food Bank
30. Donating clothes to Second Chance Boutique
31. Bringing pantry items to Matthews HELP Center
32. Bringing 4 dozen balloons to abused & neglected kids at the Children’s Attention Home
WOW. I was really humbled by the experience. I met some great people, I hopefully made an impact, and I got to share the news about Congenital Heart Defects!
Posted on February 18, 2014, in awareness and tagged 32for32, 32for32 Project, acts of kindness, awareness, CHD, CHD Awareness Week, congenital heart defect, CVICU, HLHS, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, kindness, Levine Children's Hospital. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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