Week Twenty Eight: No More Squeaky Doors For Our Neighbours.

My roommate and I recently moved, and we’re loving our new place. However, since it is an older building, the hinges on the doors seemed to be squeaking a lot. Since I ALWAYS have WD-40 close to my disposal (those who know me well knows that this is true), I gave all the doors in our apartment a good spray down. Good as new.

Then, when we first met our neighbours as they were stepping out of their apartment, I noticed that their door also seemed like it was one coming straight out of The Crypt Keeper. So I decided to bring out my trustee WD-40 and spray their hinges as well.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

Now they won’t have to fear imagining the worst sound ever every time they step in or out of their apartment.

G. 

Week Twenty Six: Rallying Shopping Carts at the Pharmacy.

This week, when I was at Shopper’s, I noticed a ton of shopping carts scattered everywhere around the entrance. It seemed like a pretty busy night for them so I thought I might help out. I gathered all the carts and placed them in a neat row to hopefully simplify one employee’s evening.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

Might have not been a grand gesture, but in my opinion, it’s the little thing that counts and mean more.

G. 

Week Twenty Five: Recycling an Abandoned Box of Trash.

This week I was biking through Sandy Hill, and saw this apartment building with a box full of trash on the front step. Anyone who knows the area, knows that at times there can be some messy students that forget to pick up after themselves. I decided to get rid of that eye sore and recycle or throw out all the contents from the box.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

It may not have been a lot, but it’s one less box of trash lying around.

G.    

Week Twenty Three: Weeding a Flowerbed at the University of Ottawa.

As I was walking by the University this week, I noticed that the flowerbeds were really starting to flourish. I also noticed that there were some weeds that were taking away from the full potential prettiness of these said beds. I weeded an area, thinking that it might alleviate the landscaper’s work load by just a little the next day. 

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

I left with a green thumb and the satisfaction that I might have helped someone out just a bit.

G.

Week Twenty Two: Sending a Card to a Friend’s Family Overseas.

I’ve been feeling rather nostalgic of my travels lately. So this week, I decided to write a nice letter to some people who mean a lot to me overseas to let them know that I was thinking about them.

When I was working in France in the summer of 2011, I decided to make the most of my sojourn and travel around Europe (obviously). I got along really well with one of my coworkers and one long weekend, she invited me along a trip to visit her parents in Saint Jean de Luz in the south western part of France. Her parents were amongst the nicest people I have ever met and accommodated to my every need and then some. They brought me around town, suggested some sites to go see, cooked for me, provided some family recipes and even packed me a lunch so I wouldn’t starve on my way back to Paris on the TGV (the high-speed trains in France). That weekend, I brought them a small gift from Paris to thank them, and have been sending them Christmas cards every year, but I thought it would be nice to send them a small letter two summers later to reiterate how much I appreciated their hospitality.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject 

Again, just because I have been thinking about my travels, a couple of pictures from my trip:

My coworker Caroline and I. 

The beautiful beaches of Saint Jean de Luz.

Enjoying the view.

The famous montagne Basque de la Rhune. 

Supper table.

Supper one night: Muscles in a white wine
and cream sauce with rice.

The very French lunch they packed for me:
a piece of baguette, cheese and a patisserie. 

I feel like I learnt a lot from them in terms of hosting and I have every intention to continue to make it a part of my lifestyle and to pay it forward.

G. 

Week Twenty: Leaving Bus Tickets at the Bus Station.

This week, after dashing to the bus stop in fear of missing my bus, I found myself ticketless in front of the driver. Thankfully, I had change on me so I was able to hop on without a problem. Then I wondered, how many times a day does this happen to people at this particular bus stop?

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

The next day, I decided to leave some bus tickets behind at the stop in hope of relieving stress from one person who couldn’t originally get from point A to B successfully.

G. 

Week Eighteen: Picking Up Trash and Recyclable Materials During Lunch.

A couple of weeks ago, I went home to visit my family in Northern Ontario. On the drive back to the greyhound station, my mom and I noticed this man picking up trash on the side of the highway. She was saying how this man was very well known in the community and how his daily routine consisted of walking from village to village in the area to pick up litter by the side of the road in order to make it a better and cleaner place to live. I thought this was a great deed and it got me thinking that I should do the same too. 

When I was taking a walk during my lunch break at work on Friday, I noticed that there was this field full of trash nearby. I went in the closest store and asked for a garbage bag. The nice man, after chuckling to my unusual request, handed me one and expressed  support and gratitude towards what I was doing. In 15 minutes, I managed to pick up a full garbage bag of trash and some recyclable materials.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

Fifteen minutes is all it took to make a healthy green field a bit more pleasing to the eye.

G.    

Special Skype Call with Students from New Brunswick.

Today, I had the opportunity to have a Skype call with students from River Valley Middle School, situated in Grand Bay-Westfield, New Brunswick. I had been in contact with the folks from Pay It Forward Saint John for a while now, who are also mostly teachers, and they thought that it would be a great idea for me to have a conversation with their students. Topic: Kindness. Goal: Inspire and Encourage. I introduced myself and talked about my little project to the students and they, in return talked about all the great things that they have been up to as well. I don’t think I’ve ever met a group of kids as motivated and selfless as this bunch.

Class from River Valley Middle School, Grand Bay-Westfield, NB.

Amongst a million other things, they organized lasagna cooking sessions and brought the dishes to their local shelter and planned clothing drives and brought the piles of clothes to people in need. They also had students who took the initiative to do personal deeds. I’ll never forget the girl who decided to ask all her friends and family to give her money for her birthday instead of gifts so she could put the money towards cancer research, or the girl who coordinated a teddy bear drive and gave away all of her old bears to a children’s hospital. These stories were truly touching.

Students talking about their projects.

It was great to witness the enthusiasm that these 12 to 14 year old kids had for helping others. I also loved that the teachers found a way to incorporate kindness into their education, which also allowed them to be creative and have fun with it at the same time. I haven’t felt this inspired in a while and I have these students to thank for that.

Picture taken by @psweeze from the other side!

Let the domino effect continue!

G.

Week Seventeen: Leaving a Book Behind for Someone Else's Enjoyment.

It’s Global Pay It Forward Day. What have YOU done to contribute to the ripple effect of Kindness?

Instagram: @geneseguin #k4kproject

For this special day, I had been asked by the Pay It Forward Saint John crew to fly down to New Brunswick and take part in their 24 hours of Kindness inauguration event. Political people, teachers, elementary students and people in the community all came together on this day to present and celebrate acts of kindness that were being done in their city. They also wanted me to present my project in order to "spread and inspire kindness." Unfortunately, as it fell on a Thursday, I couldn’t attend the event. However, thanks to #Twitter, I was still able to connect with these people and wish them luck on their first year of participating in Pay It Forward. Who knows, I may just go pay them a visit at some point throughout the year… 

G.

Week Sixteen: Clothing Collection from Friends for Donation Drop Off. (# 2)

To follow-up the clothing drive I did back in February, I decided to organize a second one since a lot of friends had reached out saying that they also had pieces that they wanted to give away. I’m glad to know that a total of eight people’s closets are now less packed, and that the clothes will now be put to good use by some less fortunate folks at The Ottawa Mission. A big thanks to my friend Sébastien who lent his car and chauffeur services for an afternoon to make this happen this time around. 

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

Two simple trips which helped two different parties. That’s what I call an efficient double whammy.

G.

Week Fourteen: Leaving Life Lemons at a Street Corner.

I think this one pretty much speaks for itself.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

Also – I would like to take a moment to thank an OC Transpo driver who was very kind to me this week. Seeing how cold I was while waiting for a bus in a rural area, this incredibly nice person offered me a ride in their off time to a bus station so I could get home quicker.

Karma working its magic? Perhaps. All I know is that it was a wonderful way to end a work day.

G. 

Week Thirteen: Professional Letter of Recommendation for a Friend.

This week's act was pretty personal as I felt the need to thank a really good friend of mine.

2012 was an irksome and what felt like a never ending job hunting year for me. Although I was aware that this is usually a pretty common situation for recent university graduates to be in, I felt a lot of anxiety, especially since the job market was a bit slow at that period.

However, all throughout this process, one of my friends, who is also an Employment Service Resource & Information Specialist, had been coaching me and pushing me in the right direction. She helped me with my resume, sent me job postings everyday from work and was just overall always very supportive. She had also gladly accepted to do a resume building workshop for one of my groups in my past job as a Project Leader for Katimavik. 

I decided to send an email to her supervisor this week to highlight all of the great work the she has done, not only for me, but for everyone else she has been lending her services to lately.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

What goes around, comes around.

(AM I RIGHT, JT?)

G.

Week Twelve: Surprise Gifting for a Friend.

Lately, I found myself being surrounded by really good friends and appreciating every moment of it. Friends who put up with your stupid and insignificant problems, your ridiculous assumptions and your never ending rants. Friends who genuinely ask you how your day went and who know exactly how you feel at all times. So when I spotted this fridge magnet that instantly made me think of one my main girls,I thought - I need to get this for her.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

The gift of great friends deserves spontaneous gifting in return sometimes. 

G.

Week Ten: Kind Reflections for International Women's Day.

For week ten, I got inspired by International Women's Day, which fell on Friday March 8^th. I rummaged in my stuff for a mirror, added a couple of feel-good words and tapped it to a poll on the street.

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

Media and advertising imposes beauty standards onto women by depicting certain looks and body types. My goal was to showcase the viewer, encourage self-confidence and have people embrace their individuality. 

Even though I put this up for International Women's Day, I decided to keep it gender neutral (notice the French). I didn't wish to narrow it down to only women as I felt that everyone can appreciate a couple of encouraging words. Hope everyone had a great IWD!

G.

Week Nine: Leaving a Stamped Postcard at a Coffee Shop.

Earlier this week, I opened my email to find a message from one of my friends that I met in Paris. Unfortunately, since I’ve been a bit busy lately, I haven’t been actively communicating with her as much as I would like. She wanted to plan a skype call so we could catch up since the last time we were in touch was by mail correspondence around Christmas time. This made me think – it would be nice if I could encourage someone else to do the same thing with one of their long lost/distance friends. So I bought a postcard, added a stamp, wrote a small letter and left it at a coffee shop for someone to stumble upon. That 10 minutes that that person will take to write a small message will be sure worth the joy and surprise that it will bring in his/her old friend’s life. 

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

G.

Week Eight: Snow Removal from a Neighbour’s Car’s Windshield.

On my way to work the other day, I noticed that there was only one car parked on my street. I also noticed that this said car was covered in a bit of powder from the light snowfall that occurred the night before. I thought a nice gesture to do would be to remove that snow from the windshield and the hood to save the car owner a couple of minutes from their daily routine that morning. After making sure that car was not equipped with an alarm, I wiped down whatever snow I saw on the car. I didn’t leave a note or anything, but I’m hoping that my neighbour was pleasantly surprised by this simple act of kindness. 

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

G.

Week Seven: Clothing Collection from Friends for Donation Drop-Off. (#1)

Cottage weekend was coming up and 10 friends were attending. Samuel, one friend who unfortunately could not attend, suggested to ask everyone to bring something that could possibly be donated to people in need. I thought this was an amazing idea since it would be a great way to collect more items. Mo’ people, mo’ stuff, right? So I asked them to bring a couple of old articles of clothing that was taking up valuable space in their closets. (Nothing too big because everyone already had their hands and trunks full of stuff for the weekend.) It was also a great way to encourage them to start early on their Spring cleaning. Win-win situation, I thought! As expected, the group responded well to this idea. And then some. A few said that they actually had big bags of clothes to get rid of, so I suggested to wait until the following week to try to coordinate something and make one big trip to a donation centre instead. I reached out to another good friend of mine, Mathieu, who has a car (and a really big heart), to ask if he could help me bring everything to the Mission. He immediately agreed. I picked the Ottawa Mission as the designated drop-off centre as I wanted to make sure that the clothes would be put to good use, as opposed to being resold or thrown away. A couple of days after cottage weekend, the clothes were donated and everyone was left feeling lighter in clothes and good about their deed. I was happy to have acted as the bridge between the two. 

Thanks for the suggestion Sam!

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

What was even more impressive was the response I received post-posting this picture on Instagram and Facebook. A great number of people came up to me and said that they also had things to donate. As a result, I decided that it would be worth organizing a second clothing collection in the next little while. I will be coordinating that soon, so I will keep everyone posted. It’s great how word gets around so quickly!

G.

Week Six: Homemade Card for a Bedridden All-Star Volunteer.

At work we have had the pleasure to get to know this wonderful and high-spirited lady who dedicates a lot of her time towards our music festival organization. If we need something to get done, we know that we can always rely on her to get it done quickly and with extreme precision. On top of being our right arm for all of our events, her marvelous personality and sharp humour always makes her a very pleasant person to be around.

A few months ago, we found out that she was to undergo a serious surgery in February, which would confine her to a bed for several months. The team agreed that sending her a care package to which we would all contribute would be a nice gesture to do to let her know that we are thinking about her. As she had made a homemade card and baked goodies for us for Christmas, I thought that it was appropriate for me to make a card for her in return. I decided to have fun with it and try something new. I had never done watercolour before and thanks to my wonderful roommate who had the patience to guide me through the process, I was able to come up with a somewhat decent design. The bike symbolizes not only her love of cycling, but also the determination and strength (both essential when biking) that will help her get back on the road to recovery. 

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

(I may or may not have used the cat as a model.)

Again, by being involved with Katimavik in the past, I can fully understand the positive impact of volunteer work in the community. It’s important to underline the work that volunteers do and make them realize that what they accomplish does not go unnoticed as they are often the backbone of organizations, especially for music festivals. So making this card was the least I could do to thank her for her help.

G.

Week Five: Scholarship Reference Letter for a Former Katimavik Volunteer.

10 o’clock at night. Wednesday the 30^th.

I get a Facebook message from an old Katimavik volunteer. She explains that she is in the process of applying for the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award Program Scholarship. “Awesome! Good for you,” I think. “The deadline is Friday,” she continues, “so I would need it to be sent Xpresspost by tomorrow morning…” It was evident to me that she was in full panic mode. She gives her most sincere apologies for springing this on me on the very last minute and offers to repay me for the cost of the shipping. “Why not?” I think, “Seems like she could really benefit from this scholarship.” So I put my personal work load aside and start writing away. Next thing I know, it was 1 o’clock in the morning and my eyes were getting a tad weary. I had to finish it that night since I had to go in work the next morning for 9am. “Good thing I work close to a Post Office,” I thought. So I continue writing and fine tuning and at 2am, I was done. I decide to email it to myself so I could review it one last time at work with a refreshed mind and pair of eyes before sending it off. 12:30pm the next day, the Xpresspost letter was in the mailbox. I receive a message on Friday saying that she had received it. The deed was done!    

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

This is the second endorsement that I gave out to my good ol’ former Katimavikers. I received a phone call about three weeks ago from an employer wanting to do a reference check for another one of my volunteers. Not too long after, I received a message from her saying that she got the job for which she had applied. Now here’s to hoping that everything will work out for this little bird too.

Glad to see that Competency 8 is being fulfilled! 

(Katimavik peeps will get this...)

Thoughts on the project so far

I've been feeling pretty good about where the project has been heading lately and the surprising amount of attention that it's been getting! 

• A francophone radio show, Vaguefm, from the Penetanguishene area has talked about it on air last Wednesday (which yes, has made my mom pretty proud); 
• The kind folks from Pay It Forward Saint John, who are the people that have inspired me to do this project in the first place, have been tweeting away about it and have distributed it by email in their large networks; 
• The traffic on the blog has been increasing exponentially, attracting people from the US, Germany, France, the UK, Argentina, Nigeria and Singapore; 
• Lastly, I’ve been getting some random amazing feedback from acquaintances and from people that I have never met before. 

All of this to me translates to potentially having had a small impact in some people’s lives and I’m hoping that it has encouraged them to do a couple of random acts of kindness themselves.   

G.

Week Four: Wool Socks for a Homeless Person.

As I was coming back from work the other day in -25^oC weather, I noticed a homeless and also sockless man walking in front of me. I felt so bad for him and his lack of socks - so much that I was contemplating of taking off my own feet warming gear and handing it to him. I didn't, however, it did spark an idea for my fourth week gesture. The next day, I decided to change my usual morning trek to work in order to pass in front of the Ottawa Mission. I brought along a pair of warm wool socks because I figured that someone might put them to good use, especially since we were expecting even colder weather later on in the week. I approached an older gentleman who seemed to be chilly in front of the Mission and I asked if he was interested in accepting this small gift. The man looked at me for a moment, with kindness in his eyes, and said "Oh yes please", followed by many thank yous. I asked how his day was going so far and he responded: “It just got that much better.” Seeing the gratitude that this man was expressing had made my day that much better in return.

*Side note - a local radio station from the County of Simcoe will be talking about my project on air at 6pm on Wednesday, January 30th! A friend from my hometown, who is now a radio host for the francophone station Vague FM 88.1, was following me on Twitter and noticed what I was up to. She sent me a message asking if she could talk about it on her show because she thought that it was such a neat concept and felt like sharing it. Listen to the coverage here: http://vaguefm.ca/lecteur/.  

This is truly amazing. I feel good about this thing. 

Instagram: geneseguin. #k4kproject

G.