Blog

On Saturday I was on my way to Kohls and noticed a family (mother, 2 daughters) walking down (or up!) Van Dorn with no jackets or anything warm on them – Strangely I do everything within a 5 mile radius of my house so this was not the first time I’ve noticed them walking.  ItRead more

A local elementary school, Guilford Elementary, has an annual fall book fair for its students.  82% of Guilford’s students are categorized as economically disadvantaged.  Since getting food on the table is a challenge for many of these families, many students do not have books of their own.  My church is doing a RAK and partneringRead more

Saw a lonely police officer in line for lunch. I was already seated…I hoped up and told the cashier not to charge him or tell him who did this for him and to give me the bill. When it came to his turn to pay the officer, leaned forward, a bit confused and then tookRead more

Saturday, September 17th just happened to be the 7th anniversary of the day that my Son. Kaleb was born an angel. Every year that this date comes around I have thoughts about that tragic time of my life and fill my mind of thoughts of what could have been. Needless to say, it is difficultRead more

My daughter & I went out to breakfast, something we do not do very often.  As we finished our meal, we started chatting with our waitress, ended up talking about teenagers and chores. She was sharing her stories & what works with one of her children does not necessarily work with the others.  Her theoryRead more

Several weeks ago, I was killing time and looking at Facebook. I saw a post that caught me off guard.  It was a high school friend of mine that I had reconnected with via Facebook a year or so ago.  She shared a story about her life, what was going on and ultimately, it wasRead more

Last week I, unfortunately, had to take my friend to the local hospital because he fell and broke his leg and had some X-rays. While there, I met a 25-year-old guy sitting with his father who also broke his leg. They don’t have money like a lot of people here and we’re using the free hospitalRead more

Stopped at the Walmart in Gainesville the other day to pick up a few things on the way home and an opportunity presented itself. We noticed the man in front of us grimacing as each item made it across the scanner. I couldn’t hear the conversation well with the cashier but recognized that things thatRead more

As a child, some of my favorite memories were from different camps and summer activities we were fortunate enough to experience. Obviously, when a child or family is homeless, they are forced to focus on different priorities. St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore set up a camp for homeless and underprivileged children in Baltimore. My wifeRead more

My family lost our oldest dog back in May to cancer. We had Duncan since he was about 2 years old. We rescued him from the Frederick Animal Shelter, he was the best dog and was great with my kids as they grew up. My youngest daughter, who is now 16, was 2 years oldRead more

5:30 Sunday morning I was at a gas station filling up and getting ice for a cooler, preparing for a day with family and friends on the river. After I pumped gas I went up to the convenience store to buy the ice. There was a small elderly guy inside making coffee, he looked inRead more

Last Saturday I was walking the dogs when I walked past the loading dock – there was a small U-Haul with a little girl sitting in it and her mom on the phone outside having what was obviously not a pleasant call. When I came back around the conversation was a louder and I couldn’tRead more

I am spending the day at Hershey Park, having a ball. When we were buying our lunch & realized how expensive it was, we decided to do a RAK & pay for the family behind us in line. What a ‘Sweet treat’ it was, smiles & lots of thanks from the family. I trust they’llRead more

Last night Laura and I decided to go out for dinner so we packed up the kids and went to one of our favorite spots close by- Red, Hot & Blue. Our waitress was a very nice young girl, I think she said her name was Becca. We ordered our drinks and waited to forRead more

New neighbors moved into my neighborhood last week. A young family with a 3-year-old and a blind dog, and they all recently relocated from California. While speaking to the mom, and introducing myself (and Gabi) she told me that morning, on her first day taking her son to new day-care center and on her wayRead more

My wife and I often wrestle with the subtly of how we express our gratitude for the gifts we’ve received from God, as we like to think we have genuine humility. So lately we cannot help feeling that when we share our blessings with others that, somehow, it implies we are somehow more worthy than those around us.  TheRead more

While on vacation in Nevada, Utah, and California with my two teenage boys, we were happy to spread joy to others via ARG’s Random Acts of Kindness. We decided we would do something for others while in each state. It was a great opportunity to share with my kids and it definitely made them payRead more

Over this past year, I finally struck up a conversation with Bobby, a free-lance tile man, who on occasion, treats himself to a weekend breakfast at Bob’s. After picking up his tab a time or two, what I have learned from him is how God’s grace doesn’t always come from the menu.  Life and what you wantedRead more

Initially, I was a little apprehensive about going up to strangers because when I first meet people I tend to be a little shy, but I just carried around the money in my wallet just waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. Since I’m from New Jersey I spend basically every weekend in DCRead more

My kids know about the RAK program from a family discussion around Random Acts of Kindness and being empowered to do fiscal kindness as a way of celebrating ARG’s anniversary. Today I took the day off to pick up my daughter from a camp in Pennsylvania, we stopped to eat at a restaurant in FrederickRead more

One of my previous RAKs was to give out gift cards at a local grocery store to help offset food costs.  It went very well, but I wanted to try something a bit different this year. I went to a local farmers market on Saturday when it first opened and worked with one of theRead more

I was at the Giant Food in Ashburn picking up some things with my kids. We got in line behind an older lady who had a pocketbook full of coupons she was trying to use, after she used her coupons, she tried using one credit card which was declined, then she tried using another cardRead more

Although just the lowly summer intern, I also wanted to get in on the Random Acts of Kindness action. Due to my short time at ARG this summer, I was initially struggling to come up with a RAK idea that I could quickly do. With all the tragic news stories recently involving police across thisRead more

Saw an elderly couple at the gas station near my house standing in front of the gas pump looking confused.  I thought I would just be pumping gas to help but turns out he could not find his wallet and needed gas.  Since I wasn’t sure he would easily if at all, find his walletRead more

My girls and I had the opportunity for a small RAK yesterday.  We drove by a road crew repairing roads and sidewalks in our neighborhood.  Hot work on a hot day.  We stopped at the 7-11 a few blocks away and picked up bottles of Gatorade to take back to them.  My kids loved it! Read more

On my way to work, I saw a big cloud of smoke come from a car in front of me. Usually, my first thought would be how that will disrupt my day but today I thought of the driver. I watched as the car slowly made its way to the shoulder and did my bestRead more

There is an elderly gentleman that I drive by at least 3 times a week, sitting on his front porch just down the street from my house. I can see him sitting there from my front yard. Today I was headed to the farmers market and sure enough, this guy is sitting by himself onRead more

As I was driving home from Reston Town Center on Saturday evening, I noticed an older man walking with a limp and a bandaged arm. After I drove past him, I realized I still had the $250 in my wallet (the original two $100 dollar bills and a $50). I turned the car around andRead more

I needed to get some cleaning supplies, so I went to Walmart in Sterling. While we were unloading our cart, I noticed a family of four in front of us, a screaming 1-year-old and a very active but polite 3 yr old.  The dad was paying & I notice he swiped one credit card, the clerkRead more

Thanks to yesterday’s training I left my house this morning with the idea of making the world a better place for a random stranger. I thought I might let someone in front of me in traffic or something. This evening while taking my son to tae kwon do an opportunity presented itself. A guy inRead more