Small U.S. businesses thrive with Ethiopian woman’s help. Read the story on CNN here.

Also, Obama recognizes Hero - Follow up story

Pixar grants girl’s dying wish to see ‘Up’

“A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.” Henrik Ibsen

Image source

Let not Kindness and fidelity leave you. Bind them around your neck. Then will you win favor and good esteem before God and man! Proverbs:Chapter 3 verses 3&4 New American Bible

Check out this awesome video, Turn up your volume. This video is very true and very powerful. Please view it until the end.

Old friendships are like old songs.
They can either fit in with our
changing lifestyle and thoughts,
or be placed upon a shelf…
save for a few meaningful lyrics.

Lorraine Jara 1989

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” - Robert Frost (1875 - 1963)

If you go to this web site, www.letssaythanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

How amazing it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is free and it only takes a second.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them.

Listen to “People Got to Be Free” by The Rascals

Teachers hold a special place in our hearts. We can remember certain teachers who stand out from the others and they were the teachers who gave us encouragement, kindness, and took a true interest in our future. Dawn Farrell of Michigan is one of those teachers, and she has recently become the recipient of the Family & Consumer Science Teacher of the Year Award for Michigan! Being the kind of person Dawn is, she is extremely honored to have received this prestigious award. In her own words, “It was very exciting and humbling all at the same time.” Congratulations Dawn, you are truly an inspiration to many! Teaching is the profession that creates all others. Dawn often quotes Ghandi’s famous statement to her students which is “You be the change which you wish to see in the World.”

Please contact Dawn at deltadawn109@hotmail.com

• Photos from the event:
• Photo 1
• Photo 2

The Owners of The Dexter Cider Mill, the oldest cider mill in Michigan (Established in 1886), took a shine to the recent article in the Ann Arbor News about Be Kind to Humankind Week (BK2HK). Former owner Richard Koziski (he passed the business ownership over to his daughter) had always wanted to be able to spread acts of kindness though out Dexter, however, as he had stated he did not have a way to do so. That was until he read the Ann Arbor News article about BK2HK. He realized that BK2HK would be the perfect “vehicle” as he put it, to promote kindness.

Richard had Kindness Vouchers made up at a local printers. He then asked the Sheriff’s Department if they would be interested in helping to reward folks “Caught” in the act of being kind by giving them a voucher for free cider and homemade donuts! The Sheriff’s Department agreed, and a new tradition has begun. Richard hopes that each year the Village of Dexter Michigan can be known as “The Kindest Village in the Country” as the Ann Arbor News stated! Additional newspapers who helped spread the word of this great kindness pilot program include The Dexter Leader in Dexter, Michigan and The Chelsea Standard in Chelsea, Michigan.

Richard hopes that other communities throughout the Nation will catch on to this wonderful program and start the tradition in their home towns! Thank you Richard Koziski and the Sheriff’s Department for making this a wonderful success!!!

Kimberly Becker of Labyrinth Consultants, Inc. is from Ft. Myers, Florida and she had asked me how she and her coworkers could bring “Be Kind to Humankind Week” into their area to help with the many wonderful things that their organization does to help others. This year they would specifically like to help collect food and other needed goods for the folks at Community Cooperative Ministries Incorporated (CCMI).

CCMI is the umbrella agency that serves multiple organizations in downtown Fort Myers, including The Soup Kitchen, Meals on Wheels and Faith in Action. Labyrinth Consultants will have a number of locations to drop off items during the week. Canned goods, non-perishable foods, toiletries, and monetary donations are all accepted.

• Links:
• Labyrinth Consultants
• CCMI

• Downloads:
• Press Release for the event
• Download the Event Poster - PDF | JPG
• Download the Event Flyer - PDF | JPG

• Note:
• Poster and Flyer Design by: Bryan Chaikin
  bryan@dofgdesign.com

I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to Kim and Labyrinth Consultants, Inc., you guys are awesome! We wish you luck with your week!

Update: The efforts taken up for donations for the CCMI totaled $1,500.00 and 900 lbs. of food in ONE WEEK!!! Great job!!

Drop Off Locations and Events in SW Florida

I was unaware of a friendly competition that Google has been holding called “Doodle for Google”. Below is an explanation:

From Google:

Doodle 4 Google is a competition where we invite K-12 students to reinvent Google’s homepage logo. This year we asked U.S. kids to doodle around the theme “What if…?”

Our winning doodle, selected from over 16,000 entries, was created by Grace Moon, a 6th grader at Canyon Middle School from Castro Valley, California. Grace’s lovely doodle, “Up in the Clouds,” will grace our homepage, Google.com, on May 22nd, 2008.

Congratulations to Grace, and to all our finalists!

Check out the Regional Winners

Be Kind to Humankind has been saying for over 20 years that we are tired of the medias hunger for broadcasting bad new, news stories in poor taste and stories which glorify negative sensationalism. Most say we can choose to watch these programs or simply turn to another station. However, television today is so inundated with foul language, foul behavior, and negative sensationalism that unfortunately there remains very few stations which provide excellent programming. Below is a testimonial by actor/producer Tim Robbins at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. He speaks what we here at BK2HK feel.

Listen to Tim’s speech

Listen to “Time of the Season” by The Zombies

The American Cancer Society held a “Relay For Life” on April 29, 2006 at the Chelsea Fairgrounds in Chelsea Michigan! They had a wonderful turnout and many “THANKS” goes out to all who participated! This was a “KIND ACT IN ACTION” if we ever saw one! Above we have posted just one of the many photo’s taken that day. We were unable to include all participants photo’s, however we did manage to get quite a few nice pictures of the event. To view them, please click on the link below and take a look at what an awesome event this was.

Look at more pictures !

Many thanks again!