December 7th to 18th Challenge

With all that has been happening around here, the daily challenges have not been getting posted, BUT...there is a solution. Yes, My Friends, we can all catch up very quickly.

A friend shared this article, and it offers some great suggestions for kind deeds. LKN RAKs' challenge to you is to do as many of them today and tomorrow as possible. Then come back here and comment below to share how it went and how it affected those involved.

I am having trouble attaching images or links, but that will not deter us from our mission! Simply read the article at http://www.becomingminimalist.com/spread-cheer/

I am excited to read your comments about what you did!

LKN RAKs Give Back Update

Lake Norman RAKs invites you-  Nay.  LKN RAKS challenges you to join us for a day of random acts of kindness!  As you prepare for Christmas, or as you are celebrating Hanukkah, you are encouraged to take some moments to give back to your community by "doing kindness" for others.  Your acts can be random or deliberate.  You can plan ahead for ways that you can show kindness to others,  or you can look for opportunities throughout your day.  You can even do both!

Now here is the BIG challenge.  The more people who join us for this event, the easier it will be to succeed.  Our mission, should you choose to be a part of it, is to perform 1,000 Acts of Kindness on December 21st, 2014. 

Are you in?  100 people would make it an average of ten RAKs per person.  200 people would lower the average to five RAKs per person.  500 people would give us an average of only two random acts of kindness per person.  Invite your friends, and let us make this thing happen all over Lake Norman...or wherever you are!

#lknraks

#rakgiveback

#1000rakson1221

Join us at https://www.facebook.com/events/362548340572903/ and invite everyone that you can to also join us!

December 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th Challenge

It has been a super busy week, but I did not forget about all of you!  Your challenge now is to do FOUR random acts of kindness of your choice, and then come back here and comment to tell us about them.  When we have at least ten people comment below this blog post this weekend, then we will give away another great gift from another generous business.  Are you excited to see what it is?  Happy RAKing, and remember to comment below!

Here We Go Again

As we are working to spread the word about the LKN RAK Give Back, a certain gift was promised to one of the folks who is already signed up for the event on December 21st.  What will the gift be, though?

Gifted By

Marsha Sparks

Yarn Doodles

www.fb.com/YarnDoodlesWV

For the person who will be blessed with this handmade act of kindness, you will have your choice of a few colors.  For those of you will did not get chosen this time, please check out and "Like" Yarn Doodles' Facebook page, anyway, as you may find the right gift for someone on your list...or for yourself!

...and the winner is....

Thank you bunches to Marsha of Yarn Doodles, and keep "doing" kindness!

December 2nd Challenge

Last night I went to play bingo for the fun of it.  There were not many of us playing -- six, to be exact -- and it seemed that the same three people kept winning everything!  

There was a child there who was a good sport but bummed because he kept just missing the win.  I did, too.  LOL.  Finally, we got to a prize that interested the boy.  I told him that if I won, I would give it to him.  Of course, I had not won anything until that point, so I told him that his chances were probably not great.  We all laughed.  

We played bingo.  The tension mounted, as several of us were oh-so-close.  Then it happened.  I actually won.  Haha.  As was my word, I gave the prize to the boy, and he was pleased.  (RAK #1)

Hey!  Maybe my "luck" was changing, and I would win the next prize!  The numbers started to be called.

Yeaaah...no.  I did not win.  However, the child's mother won.  I suppose that she was going to let him have the prize because he walked over to my table and gave me back the prize that I had given him.  What a kind gesture.  (RAK #2)

My challenge for you today, which you can do tomorrow if you cannot find the opportunity tonight, is to perform an act of kindness where you have to give up something.  Then comment on this blog post and tell us about it!

December 1st Challenge

My family and I met a friend at the theatre and to see a movie this past weekend.  We were going straight from somewhere else and got to the theatre early, so we bought tickets for all of us so that we would not have to wait on line when it was time for the movie.  (RAK #1)

We told our friend that we had gotten the tickets, yet she did not understand that we had gotten her ticket, too, so she bought her own ticket.  When we figured out what had happened, our friend said that she could return the ticket that she bought.  Then she reconsidered and decided to give it to someone else.  She stood outside and waited for someone to arrive at the line who was going to see the same movie and gave them her ticket.  (RAK #2)

When we went into the theatre, AmStar 14 Cinema in Mooresville had some fun games set up in the lobby for children to play and even had prizes and giveaways for the children to take home.  They were not trying to sell anything.  This was simply something kind that they were doing for the children.  (RAK #3)

Sometimes you have the opportunity to give and receive random kindness without putting much thought into it or without even realizing it.  Neat, right?

Your challenge today is to see an opportunity to perform a spur of the moment act of kindness and then come back here and leave a comment to tell us all what it was.  Maybe your experiences will give ideas to others!

LKN RAK Give Back

Lake Norman RAKs invites you-  Nay.  LKN RAKS challenges you to join us for a day of random acts of kindness!  As you prepare for Christmas, or as you are celebrating Hanukkah, you are encouraged to take some moments to give back to your community by "doing kindness" for others.  Your acts can be random or deliberate.  You can plan ahead for ways that you can show kindness to others,  or you can look for opportunities throughout your day.  You can even do both!

Now here is the BIG challenge.  The more people who join us for this event, the easier it will be to succeed.  Our mission, should you choose to be a part of it, is to perform 1,000 Acts of Kindness on December 21st, 2014. 

Are you in?  100 people would make it an average of ten RAKs per person.  200 people would lower the average to five RAKs per person.  500 people would give us an average of only two random acts of kindness per person.  Invite your friends, and let us make this thing happen all over Lake Norman...or wherever you are!

#lknraks

#rakgiveback

#1000rakson1221

Join us at https://www.facebook.com/events/362548340572903/

Hmm...speaking of acts of kindness, would anybody like to do the kind task of coming up with a logo for this event?  Maybe we can even have a contest if more than one person is interested.  What do you think?

We Gave You Fair Warning

If you have been reading LKN RAKs' blog posts for the past few days, you know that at the end of each post, we have encouraged you to comment because we probably had something up our sleeve...and we do!

The idea was to do a drawing and choose someone to receive a RAK in the mail. Sooo...all of the names have been gathered. We have Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, aaand Kelly. Do you know what? I am not going to bother with the drawing. I will choose who I think should win, and if the other entrants have a problem with that, then they can take it up with...Kelly. Hehe.

Gifted By

Kathy Miranda

Jordan Essentials

www.myjestore.com/Kathy

www.fb.com/PamperingForAPurpose

For everyone who is not Kelly, this Lotion Bar from Jordan Essentials is more than you might imagine, so maybe you will consider getting a few for stocking stuffers or teacher gifts or a little something for someone who is on your mind.

Kathy, thank you for the deliberate act of kindness in giving a Lotion Bar for Kelly to enjoy.  Kelly, thank you for being the person to comment every day and help us get this new blog growing. Everyone else, now is a good time to start. <wink>

Welcome to LKN RAKs: Part 3

Recently (read: for the last few months), I have been feeling a pull to put the LKN RAKs web site back up.  Finally, I decided to go for it, and my husband, being the super kind guy that he is, supported me.  

Lake Norman RAKs, or LKN RAKs for short, needed to be revived.  However, with support from other areas and with the internet making everyone seem so much more local, I did not want to exclude anybody simply because they did not live here in the area.  Thus, while LKN RAKs officially is Lake Norman RAKs, we will unofficially be know as LKN RAKs because Lots of Kindness is Necessary in this life.  

With that being said, we will focus on this area, yet we invite anyone from anywhere to comment, to share your act of kindness (actually, we would love that), and to contribute to and be encouraged by the positivity that we hope will fill the pages here.  Now...get out there and do some kindness...and then come back here and share it with us!

Tomorrow, as part of our relaunch, we will start a month of challenges, games, and more and look forward to your participation.  Oh, yeah, and we will reveal our sneaky surprise after you all comment today.  That is right; your curiosity will have to wait just a liiiitle bit longer.  

Happy Thanks Giving

Many of us are gathering today to give thanks for so much of what we have in this life and to enjoy the blessings and bounty of a warm home and sharing of food.

While you are with folks today, or even if you are not, what are some ways that you can take a moment to give thanks to someone for something that they might not even realize is or was meaningful to you?  

When you take a moment to appreciate them, you will be performing an act of unexpected kindness that may make someone smile inside in a way that adds an extra bit of joy to their Thanksiving.  Who are you going to thank?

Welcome to LKN RAKs: Part 2

After we were at our new home and in the Lake Norman area for some time and feeling a bit settled, we thought that the Lowcountry RAKs web site was such a joy and growing so well in South Carolina that maybe we could create the same kind of "home" for good on the web in North Carolina.  

After all, we were still seeing the sad news and the bad news portrayed all over the various news outlets, and sometimes people simply need to be reminded of all of the goodness and beauty that really is all around us.  We hoped that Lake Norman RAKs could help be that reminder.

We had some great support from local newspapers like The Charlotte Observer and Mooresville Tribune.  We even had support and encouragement from people who lived in a completely different state and saw the articles about Lake Norman RAKs picked up by their local newspaper!  How neat is that?

An article that someone mailed us from their newspaper in Alabama:

Alas, life happens, and the Lake Norman RAKs web site was put to the side.  HOWEVER...it is time for the phoenix to rise, so come back tomorrow for the conclusion to this trilogy and to see where LKN RAKs will be going next!

Be sure to keep posting your comments because...well...because.  Hehe.

Welcome to LKN RAKs: Part 1

What a treat it is to have you here as we relaunch an old concept.  Thank you for joining us!  You may be wondering, "What is a RAK, and what does it have to do with the Lake Norman area -- or any area?"  We are here to tell you!

RAK is an acronym used for Random Acts of Kindness. Often, this expression is used for just what is sounds like:  when someone performs an act of kindness for seemingly no reason. Here at Lake Norman RAKs, though, we choose to expand that idea to include any and every good thing. Whether an act of kindness is something that one person does for another, something that someone does for an animal, or whether it is a gift that God gives in that moment that seems so randomly perfect...whatever it is, a kindness act can be wonderful, make someone happy, and sometimes even completely make their day. 

With that in mind, we decided back in 2008 to create a web site as a sort of "home" for the good news, the kind deeds, the happy things that were happening all around us in the Lowcountry, which was where we lived at the time.  The web site was off to a good start, and then we moved to the Lake Norman area and let it go.

Read the article that Bluffton Today ran:

Of course, the story does not end there, or we would not be here talking about it, would we?  Please check back tomorrow for the next part of this story.  Meanwhile, be sure to post a comment today on this blog entry because we may just have some act of kindness up our sleeves.  (We do!)