The Ordinary Incredibles on the Island of Kindness.

You are never too young to be kind..Anton and Caden are making Alyssa proud

The twins were only 4 when they lost their Alyssa but those 4 years spent with her were the most important in their lives. Her love for people, her infectious laugh and love for helping others were instilled in them from the day they came to live with us.

The boys are no strangers to the acts of kindness as they have been active members of the Sunshine Squad since it began .

In December they asked me if they could do a RAOK for someone ,of course I said yes. They went to a home ( who are related but that doesn't matter) washed walls, helped put up a Christmas tree and decorated it..not complaining about the manual labour once. They knew what they were doing would help them immensely and make their day. Their giggles and full on belly laughs as they were soaked with soapy water made the chore a fun activity..of course they are children..we would be moaning and groaning. Alyssa would be so proud of them.

Anton and Caden were also picked for as the winners of #bethechange campaign from @Tomorrowsheroestoday for the work they do to keep our community clean by picking up recycling when they walk with their great grandparents

This February the boys will walk in their 4th Coldest Night of the year for Choices for Youth, to help end Teen Homelessness. This will be their 2nd year fundraising on their own.. You are never too young to try to make a difference, never too young to help people! I cant wait to see what else this awesome duo do as they grow up.. The seeds of kindness are planted and thriving.

Raok leaves one woman pumped.. no skating around the kindness

As I sit catching up on my facebook feed, one story catches my eye.\one of my driving fears is being out with the twins and getting a flat tire ( Ive learned to keep an air compressor in my car for those instances but it still doesn't make the stress disappear). When I read this I knew it had to go on the blog..a true act of RAOK..

hope you don't mind Kayla and Rod :) Moral of the story..if you see something that you can help with..do so.. We all have busy schedules but what is a few minutes in a day?

POST BY KAYLA LAZZARO

"This afternoon I was at Twin Rinks for Thomas’ power skating, when I came out I found this note on my car... I cannot express my gratitude to this man. How kind and considerate to not only inform me of the flat tire (that I was unaware of) but to pump it up as well? Going out of your way to help someone you don’t know, when no one is looking... this is true kindness and there isn’t enough of it in this world.

Rod,
I don’t know you but I am very thankful for your kind gesture. I hope this post finds its way to you. Thank you, thank you!

Pay it forward people, I know I certainly will be!"

CBC wrote about it but I beat them to it :)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/flat-tire-no-more-1.4969733?fbclid=IwAR0H9rYpH7fEa73qevSNmGLFRRwgXnQ6Q6bnYvu_zT5EF0cqW449d9KBHeA

Stella Michel and 12 Months 12 Miracles Corner Brook

The first few months after Alyssa was killed was nothing but a blur, honestly life is still a blur. I had been struggling with ideas of how to keep Alyssa's love for helping people and giving back alive. We had done our first Coldest Night of the Year Walk as the Sunshine Team and had just finished The Swim for Hope with Alyssa's swim family. Her alumni teammates had come together to form the Sunshine Squad and raise funds for Cancer and for Alyssa's Sunshine award..but what could I do to keep it going?

I was sitting on the couch as my inlaws were faithfully watching the news(something I had stopped doing_) and waiting for the twins bedtime. Something on the news caught my attention .. words like give back, help others etc..I lifted my ass up and started to listen. Her name was Stella Michel (from Corner Brook). She had started a group named 12 Months 12 Miracles. I liked the idea, and wondered could I take her idea, twist it a little and rework it to honour Alyssa. ( that story will come later) .

Over the past 3 years I have chatted with Stella, listening to her excitement over her group and her ideas. Ive heard her on the radio, tv, seen awards she has won ( congrats) and knew I had to include her in this blog for without her my Sunshine Squad wouldn't have had the spark to its beginning.

This is Stella's Story....

" I started 12 Months 12 Miracles in January 2016 as my New Year's Resolution. When I was 3-4 years old, I was sexually abused and my mother hid it. In my 30s, while living across the country, I started having flashbacks and the truth finally came out. I lost my father to cancer when I was 12 years old. When I turned 14 years old, my mother gave me my first black eye. After that, I learned to fight back. We would fistfight sometimes twice or three times a week. Getting kicked out of the house was a normal occurrence. I moved across the province at 17 to live with my aunt and uncle. I went on to marry an abusive man. We separated after 4 years. My point is, no matter how bad you think you have it, the power to turn that around is within you. 12 Months 12 Miracles is a shining light from my dark hole. I started it to show others that it is possible to get out of that dark hole and shine a light in this world because we never know what someone else is going thru. Some of the things we have done include: Delivering Chemo Care Bags to cancer patients; Raising money to send a family to CNIB Summer Family Camp; Mummering; Adopting families for Christmas; Contributing to the Food Bank; Supporting the Corner Brook Fire Department's Annual Toy Drive. Just to name a few. "

Here is just a little peek in what she and her group have accomplished.

Congratulations to Stella for being recognised for her Giving to others efforts..

2016 NLC Presidents Choice award

2018 YMCA Peace Medallion

Corner Brook Ace Award 2018

Stella also helped out Alyssa's Attic by hosting Alyssa's Attic West in Corner Brook , to help girls get a free dress to go to prom.. Thank you Stella!

Check out her group .. https://www.facebook.com/groups/12Months12Miracles/

or check out ..

http://www.downhomelife.com/mobile/article.php?id=1697

https://www.thewesternstar.com/living/stella-michel-recognized-by-nlc-for-12-months-12-miracles-142009/

https://www.thewesternstar.com/living/corner-brook-woman-who-gives-to-others-recipient-of-this-years-ymca-peace-medallion-261288/

Random Act of Kindness with Bobbi Pike

            Every New Year starts with resolutions, the wanting to change, to learn new things. I am no different. In January 2018 I was craving inspiration, I needed to learn something different... to jump start my brain ,and thought why not try something artsy.
           I put it out to see if anyone was interested and there was a lot of interest ..but who would  teach us? As the saying goes "its hard to teach an old dog new tricks" Who would be up for a challenge?

           Well, Bobbi Pike (   https://www.facebook.com/BobbiPikeArt/   ) posted that she would love to help us. She said she had been wanting to ever since the Sunshine Squad surprised her husband in Sobeys for fathers Day. How awesome was that.

           So a night was planned and we were ready. Despite the stormy weather we all ventured out, determined to try something new.. They welcomed us in .and gave us the opportunity to invade their space as we admired her work that was showcased throughout her home.

                             It was a night full of laughing, food and paint .

Bobbi and her husband Geoff also have a healthy living group that helps people follow the Keto Way, so if that's for you check them out..

https://www.facebook.com/groups/156525085100190/

Jennifer Dooley ..My Friends Closet Clarkes Beach

I met Jennifer about 2 years ago through her sister Andrea ( a member of the Sunshine Squad) The twin sisters are paramedics with hearts as big as a giant. I asked Jennifer why she does what she does..this is her response

"As kids we always looked out for people that were a little worse off than us, then when Brad was around 7 or 8, he had a friend that wouldn’t get much for Christmas, he came home from school one day and asked if he could clean up his playstation, put it in the box, ( I used to keep that stuff back then ), wrap it and leave it on the little boys step on Christmas Eve from Santa....so we did. A few years later he got sick, I found if you were poor, government took care of expenses, if you were rich, you could afford them but if you were the average working class, living pay check to pay check, you had to foot a lot of it yourself and the little help that was available, you had to go through hoops to get it. I was a thrift store shopper for years, first out of necessity, now by choice and since there was only one in our area, I decided to open my own, I researched how to buy stock but I had to buy a tractor trailer load that cost way too much money ( that I didn’t have ) and not even know what I was getting, I didn’t qualify for funding because they only funded stores that sold new items so I asked all my friends to clean out their closets, hence the name of my store. My boyfriend at the time, now my husband and his brother built my clothing racks out of fence railing, 2x4 and plywood, I found a counter on the classifieds for $40, cleaned it up and painted it, my mother had an old cash register that she wasn’t using and a lot of hard work from my family and a few good friends who continue to help to this day....cost me less than $2000.00 to start and that included my first months rent....glad I didn’t get approved for the loan...lol. I decided that 50% of the proceeds would go towards my Brad’s expenses and 50% would go to others in similar situations since people were good enough to donate their gently used items, why not share with them.....after Brad died, I thought about closing up but a month later it was Mother’s Day, rather than dread that day forever because he was my only child, I decided to start a tradition, I give treats to all the women that come in the store that day, ( some may have kids, some may only have pets, some may not be able to have kids or like me have lost a child )now I look forward to Mothers Day...I have people that come back every year because that’s the only gift they get and they love to have a little chat....now we donate 100% of the proceeds to different causes, the majority to help with medical expenses, it’s never a lot because it’s only a small store but most of the time we will buy things to do baskets to sell tickets so we raise more or hold a function like Paint Nite, we’ve had an auction, a booze survivor, etc, it’s been fun and helped a lot of people, might not be as much others can do but every little bit helps. We’ve put off ball tournaments, done makeovers, food drives, Christmas Projects every year and the list goes on....at the end of the day, it helps me more than anybody else, though I have a full time job as a paramedic, there is a lot of down time waiting on a call, it keeps me busy and keeps Brad’s memory alive...they say everything happens for a reason, maybe this was the reason, still not a good enough one, but there never will be one good enough, I figure it’s better than the alternative....many people ask me why I give away my money and do what I do, my answer is....it’s easy when you’ve been there....and I’ve noticed over the years that it’s the people that may not have a lot that are the first to support us whether it’s donating items to buying tickets or attending a fundraiser....we must be doing something right, this year we will celebrate our 12th anniversary."

These are some of the amazing things she has done to help others...( I snagged them from her personal Facebook, her group "My Friends Closet" and CBC