Acts of Kindness for February 🫶🏼
Awareness Dinner, Bird Feeding, Printable Cards, and More!
Hello! We’ve got extra ideas for thoughtfulness this month since we’ve been focusing a lot on generosity! Even if you’re struggling financially, you can be generous and thoughtful without spending any money. Here are some ideas; most of them don’t cost anything to do!
Send a Card (free printables)
Written letters are like permanent gifts, and they don’t really cost anything! They’re especially affordable when you print the stationery from your computer.
We designed four foldable cards for ya right here in this PDF!
I recommend printing two per page so they fit in an envelope. Look for the “Copies per page” settings when you’re printing.
Here’s what they looked like printed!
Trim, fold, and write in a sweet little message. You never know what it’ll mean to someone else.
If you need help knowing what to write, focus on a special experience you had with someone. You don’t need to come up with poetic words; just use concrete descriptions of what the other person did or does that you admire. Let them know you’re there for them.
Leave a Positive Review
On Monday, we talked about how every time you shop from a small business, you’re validating someone’s dream. But sometimes the money just isn’t there, of course. You know a $0 way to majorly bless your favorite small businesses? Leave a positive review! Make a list of your favorite small businesses, and when you have a minute, look them up on Google and leave them good reviews.
Employers often give bonuses to employees who are mentioned by name in reviews; next time you visit a place, make sure you note who helped you or served you so you can mention it in the review. My husband owns a pressure-washing business and reads the reviews aloud at their weekly team meeting; you should see how much it means to the technicians when customers brag on them in the reviews!
If you had a sub-par experience, business owners want to know that, too, but bad reviews can really hurt their ratings and cost them a lot of business. Consider contacting the owner directly with constructive feedback instead of just leaving a 1-star review.
Feed Birds
Have you been hearing some birdsong lately? Depending on where you live, some flying friends might be coming home for the warm months, and they’re tired and hungry from the journey!
You can make a simple bird feeder by using an orange peel! Poke four holes in the bottom and slide sticks through. Tie twine or string to the sticks and hang from a tree, then fill your little feeder with seed! You can also use a toilet paper holder that’s slathered with peanut butter and rolled in birdseed.
I love Happy Birdwatcher Co.’s birdseed subscription. They customize the blend to your area and season. We got the starter set for our kids, which included a book, a feeder, customized birdseed, and a special letter that included some ideas for what birds to look out for in our town. Susan (the founder) is also a Family Scripts reader and gave us a promo code: FAMILYSCRIPTS should get you 15% off! This isn’t sponsored; I just love this company and their mission!
Awareness Dinner and Documentary (and maybe Microloans)
I’ll never forget when I asked an undocumented acquaintance about his favorite dishes from his homeland. I expected him to say “Yes, a specialty from my country is ______” or “I wish I could find somewhere to get a good dish of _____ around here.” Instead, he looked at me a bit confused—as if I didn’t realize that he came from one of the poorest countries in the world—and said, “Not really anything. Our food wasn’t good.”
I was very humbled in that moment and realized the ignorance in my assumptions.
Over 1 billion people live on only one dollar per day, so sometimes it’s good to try to feel the hunger that 1/7 of our fellow humans have to deal with constantly. Giving your kids a very simple, unsatisfying dinner (like rice and beans) can help them see how many other kids eat around the world…or worse.
After eating your awareness dinner, you may want to watch the documentary Living On One Dollar1 about four guys who spent a couple months in Guatemala. During this time, they experienced hunger and true scarcity firsthand and learned about the struggles of their neighbors. At the end, they evaluated the impact of microloans.
Your kids might want to participate in helping people get microloans, too! Loans on Kiva have a 96.4% chance of being paid back and their site has a lot of really cool stories. You can invest in someone else’s dream and make a huge impact without spending much at all.
I hope these ideas helped!
Warmly,
Hope from Family Scripts
There’s mild language a couple times and one of the guys got really sick from a parasite.
I’m a recent subscriber and I have to say that I love your ideas! They are simple enough that my kids are actually interested 😅 too many steps or constraints and they just don’t want to do it!
Love the bird feeder idea!