#KindnessChallenge Day 4: Sign Up For Volunteer Work (On Top of Whatever You Have Been Doing)
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This is Day 4 of the 14-Day Kindness Challenge for Nov 2012 where hundreds of participants from around the world get together in spirit to do 14 acts of kindness over 14 days. The challenge is now over, but you can still do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all Kindness Challenge tasks and posts.
Good morning everyone! 
Welcome to Day 4 of the 14-Day Kindness Challenge!
Over 770 Official Participants!! FINAL Chance to Sign Up
As of the writing of this post, there are over 770 official participants. We are nearing 800 participants!!
If you haven’t signed up, now is your final chance to do so. If you don’t see your name on the official participants list, that means your registration has not gone through.
Now’s the time to stop watching by the sidelines in curiosity and to start acting. Pledge yourself to becoming a beacon of kindness. Here’s how to join:
- Challenge details: http://personalexcellence.co/blog/kindness-challenge/
- Sign up here: http://personalexcellence.co/blog/kindness-challenge/#comment
Check Out Participants’ Comments To Date!!
We’ve been getting some really amazing responses from participants for the first few tasks of the Kindness Challenge! Participants are reporting amazing results, ingenious ways of executing the assigned acts, beautiful revelations, and serendipitous encounters after doing their acts of kindness. I’m so, so proud of all of you.
If you haven’t reported your results, please do so in the daily task comments. Check out the other participants’ results. Mingle with all of them! That’s what the comments section is for! By sharing your results, you grow and you help others to grow as well.
- Day 0: Get at least ONE Friend / Family Member to Join the Challenge! | 29 Comments
- Day 1: Give a Hug to Everyone You See! | 83 Comments
- Day 2: Give Up Your Seat To Someone | 35 Comments
- Day 3: Write 3 Thank-You Notes to 3 People You Appreciate | 19 Comments
My Day 3 Review: Write 3 Thank-You Notes
Day 3′s task was to Write 3 Thank-You Notes to 3 People You Appreciate.
The three people I chose were my date coach Kydon Tay, a business associate of mine who is also an reader of PE and an active supporter of my work, and Maddy (Barber), a deejay personality from KISS92 (the radio station where I’m currently a regular at).
Why did I choose them? While my date coach is no longer my date coach anymore (I’ve ended my date coaching as per part 3 of my date coaching series), we remain very close in touch and our relationship has somehow evolved into one of very close, good friends. He has been a great supporter of my work, spirit, decisions, and thought, and I really am so thankful to have known him actually.
I still (affectionately) refer to him as my date coach today because that was the original premise we met and I just think he will always have a place in my heart for being my “fairy god father”, “big brother” and “guardian angel” in my dating life. I think it’s so serendipitous that our paths have come to cross and he has become such a mainstay in my life. I’m really grateful to have known him and I look forward to many great moments with him ahead.
For my business associate, he has been an absolute darling in helping me recently, and have really gone above and beyond to help me in many things, even when he has no reason or obligation to help me at all—he stands to gain absolutely nothing and he’s really helping out of the goodness of his heart. I’ve been very touched by his gestures time and again and I can’t wait to work with him closely in the couple of months ahead.
A snapshot of my thank-you e-mail to one of the three people I chose to thank
For Maddy, she is the one who gave me the beautiful opportunity to be a weekly regular on KISS92, where I’m having my own personal excellence segment every Monday (starts at either 7am or 8am (Singapore time GMT +8) every week, depending on schedule). It’s only been two weeks so far but I can feel that it has been a start to many great things (be it as a direct or indirect consequence of being on the show). I’m very excited at the new opportunities that will continue to spring forth from this.
(Tune in for my third episode on KISS92 tomorrow (Monday), 8am, on the topic: How To Tackle Procrastination. Unlike the previous two episodes, I’ll be in the studio LIVE this time round, so you can text whatever questions you have for me to the station at +65 9717 0920 (for those in Singapore) or post your questions directly at the KISS92 Facebook page during the segment itself!)
I chose e-mail as the medium to send my thank-you notes, and I wrote fairly lengthy e-mails to each of the three individuals, expressing my deepest gratitude, why I feel gratitude toward them, and my excitement at the things ahead for each of us. I just set them out yesterday night, so I’ve not received responses for all three notes (not that I’m expecting a response anyway! I wrote the notes because I wanted to share my gratitude, not because I wanted them to respond.)
That said, I did receive a response within that night from my business associate, who reciprocated with very kind words on his end. It made me feel that kindness is such a beautiful thing, and that when you open yourself to show your appreciation to others, people will naturally reciprocate too with their kindness and appreciation for you.
Update Nov 5 (Day 5): Subsequently received responses from both Maddy and Kydon one day later who each expressed gratitude for my thank-you notes. It was great reading their responses, knowing that they are now aware of my gratitude, and also knowing that they appreciate what I had to share. Yeah!
Day 4: Volunteer
Do you do volunteer work?
Volunteer work is one of the best ways to expose yourself to a new medium of helping other people. There are tons of volunteer work out there, from assisting the elderly at the old folks’ home, working with delinquent kids, being a mentor to kids at orphanages, helping out at animal shelters, beach cleanups, and so on.
Volunteer work doesn’t have to be some grandiose act. As long as you are offering a part of yourself pro bono to the world (be it in terms of skills, knowledge, time, effort, or money), you are in fact volunteering.
For example, someone who spends his/her time mentoring kids for free in his/her alma mater out of his/her kindness can be considered as doing volunteer work. Someone who helps to curate and moderate the discussions in an online forum (without charge, out of his/her desire to help) and to ensure the discussions are of quality standard can be considered as doing some form of volunteer work too.
I often regard everything I’m doing now as a form of volunteer work—I write articles, record podcasts/web lectures and constantly brainstorm of new initiatives to help others grow, without tying money to them or expecting payback. I’ve just found a way to make my work pay for my bills, which allows me to give myself freely to others, so that they don’t need to pay to benefit from what I have to offer.
Today, your task is to sign up for volunteer work!
Your Task: Sign Up for Volunteer Work (On Top of Whatever You Have Been Doing)
- Think of a volunteer work to sign up for.
- It can be volunteer work which you have thought of doing but have never done before. It can be volunteer work which you have done before but somehow stopped doing after a while.
- It doesn’t matter if you are currently doing volunteer work already or you have done volunteer work before—this task still applies to you. Even if you are currently doing some volunteer work, think of a new volunteer work to sign up for. Please do not say that this task doesn’t apply to you just because you are currently volunteering or because you just volunteered yesterday or last week or last month. That’s just a cop-out reason! The 14-Day Kindness Challenge has never been about going from an “unkind” person to a “kind” person—it’s about challenging our boundaries to be kinder. I’m hereby challenging you to push your boundaries and think about how you can expand your propensity for kindness!
- Then, look for an organization where you can volunteer your help, be it for an ongoing basis, a certain duration (once a week? once every two weeks?), or at the very least, one or two days. Google it, check with friends, visit local community websites… Go sign yourself up RIGHT NOW, TODAY. Your day of volunteer doesn’t have to be today or tomorrow, just that you should sign up or initiate some form of registration or inquiry to register BY TODAY. No procrastination allowed! (Coincidentally, my KISS92 Segment tomorrow is about procrastination!)
Share Your Results!
What volunteer work did you select? Which organization have you signed up for (or will be signing up for)? Why did you pick this organization? What is the duration you have selected to volunteer with them?
Check out the responses of other participants in the comments section!
After you are done with Day 4, proceed to Day 5: Give a Genuine Compliment to at Least 3 People!
Image: Heal the Bay
Tags: Challenge, kindness, kindness challenge, volunteer
My volunteering sign up was not with an organization, it was with my mom. I promised her, over the weekend, on sunday, that i would wash the dishes for the following week, and she said that that would be wonderful. So far i am doing an okay job with the task but i feel like i can do better.
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For the volunteering task, I offered our studio space/home as a place that a group of friends could gather. As it turned out, not only was there a gathering, but everyone brought a dish and we all had a feast together! It turned out to be a gathering of thanksgiving, because we all realized how fortunate we were to all be together and have a wonderful place to gather. All of this was very spontaneous, and it turned out as if we all had planned it out far in advance.
It is very gratifying indeed to be in the moment…in the moment of being conscious of being kind…Things just seem to flow along so beautifully that way. Being open to being kind and to the Universe providing and arranging other needed details is a wondrous way to live. :heart:
It’s like I am volunteering to be ready and open for opportunities to offer space, or time, or my words, or my compassion to those who need that kind of availability to assist them along their way. :hug:
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I already volunteer on a weekly basis, but I signed up for the local “teens night out” this Saturday. It’s going to be a nice break for me after this hectic week of concert and festival I have to attend.
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Volunteer to become Zwarte Piet, a Santaclaus companion, for the kids in my Wingchun school!
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Somewhat late on this one because I was on the road. I have been wondering what volunteer work to sign up for, because most are faith based in our town.
Then I stopped along the road and there was so much garbage. I decided to start clearing the big ones. It felt to good.
I am actually on the verge of starting a volunteer programme with unemployed youth who happened to go through ICDL training. We intend to sign them up to assist rural schools with computer literacy. But there is still a lot to do to realise tht, but I have an appointment with a computer company for a start.
I believe the angels and the unverse will assist to make this happen.
All your comments were so inspiring and thank you Celes for making this possible. :heart: :heart:
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Thank you so much for being a part of this challenge Celi.
:heart: :heart:
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As I’ve shared in Day 5′s prelude message, I’ve signed up to be a volunteer at SPCA. I just filled out the two-page registration form today and sent it in to the staff. I’ll wait for their response and confirmation, thereafter I should be sent on the next available orientation session (held once a month).
More updates at day 5′s thread – refer to section titled “My Day 4 Review: Volunteer Work”.
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I signed up and volunteer after school once per week to help the 4th and 5th graders with their self esteem and I educate them about bullying and about the golden rule, “treat others how you want to be treated’.
I also volunteer to help some kids with anger management and I also volunteer to help some kids who just lost loved ones and need help dealing with their emotions and anxiety.
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Today I’m going to volunteer at a soup kitchen in San Francisco that serves free, all you can eat soup, salad, and bread to anyone who is hungry.
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ive choose to help in community clean ups coz we ive many children with rumatic heart disease,in our country,
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