Blog

Saturday started as a cold day, raining ice, with the sidewalks and roads covered with a sheet of ice:  not exactly a day for anyone to be out in the elements, standing in a long line, waiting their turn to navigate the treacherous, ice-laden ground to place a wreath on a veteran’s grave. Thus myRead more

2016 is ARG’s third year participating in Wreaths Across America and we encourage you to join us in honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice this Saturday.

My wife and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary.  Our waiter was a nice guy, but did not provide overwhelmingly good service and seemed a little distracted throughout the evening.  When it was time to settle up our bill, the manager came over and said that our waiter had an emergencyRead more

Donated monies to Community Football Team, Playmakers, raising money for Florida trip. It was personal to me because anything I can do to help kids will always be important and touches my heart. It is the season for football, so timing is great for football fans. And, they are trying to get to Florida, whereRead more

I was lucky enough to be in a position to help a young man yesterday during what was clearly a stressful time for him. I was meeting my wife at a park and ride after work yesterday to connect for our evening plans. I got there earlier than expected and was waiting in my car.Read more

I was walking through Wegmans yesterday morning when I heard a woman ask where something was located because she wanted to ship them to her son who was stationed abroad in the military.  I’d been trying to find a good idea for a RAK and knew that this was a perfect opportunity given my affinityRead more

Tuesday evening when I came home from work I noticed my little neighbor Destiny sitting in the backyard silently weeping. I asked her what was wrong she said she couldn’t say she did not want to upset her mother.  Now keep in mind she is in second grade and is very mature due to family circumstances. Read more

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