Act 4 – Investing in Someone’s Vision

Once in college, I organized a rally.  There was talk of a new budget that would close all county libraries.  As a young undergraduate student studying to become an English teacher I took issue with this.  My wife and I were dating at the time we shared the same major.  She was equally as disturbed by this.  So, I organized what I figured would be a huge rally in support of keeping the libraries in the county open. We would organize in the quad on the campus of Buffalo State College before heading downtown where question & answer style board meeting was being held.  The time came for my rally to begin and after counting twice, there were six people there.  Before we departed for our next destination, I noticed a young man that was in a few of my classes walking by.  I said “Hey, Kevin! Want to go to a rally with us?” He said “Sure!”  When he agreed, he didn’t know what the rally was even about.  Since that day, Kevin and I have remained in contact.  We actually participate in a poetry conversation chain together.  He writes a poem and I respond with a poem.  It’s a nice exercise that forces us to write and it really pushes the poetic thinking.  Kevin recently moved to California to study film at USC.  He messaged me the other day on Facebook with a link to his most recent project.  He has written a short film/web series called “Murder in Swan Pond”.  He and his collaborators started a Kickstarter page and set a goal of $4000 to get their project funded.  Last night, I donated.  We all need someone to believe in us.  Every person deserves at least one person that believes in them.  I hope that Kevin continues to write and create. 

Act 3 - Supporting an Old Friend

Jeff Connors is one of my oldest friends.  Jeff and I experienced elementary school at Most Precious Blood in Angola, NY from Kindergarten through the Eight grade together.  His family owns Connors Hot Dog Stand, ever heard of it?  Yeah, that’s right.  Angola is pretty much the place to be in the summer and it’s definitely the place to be from.  But this isn’t a blog about my hometown, I am writing about helping a good friend.  When Jeff and I were in school, I remember that when asked what he wanted to be, he always said that he wanted to be a teacher.  When asked the same question, I said that I wanted to be a pilot.  Jeff is an English teacher at Lake Shore, and I am not a pilot.  He knew.  This path wasn’t revealed to me until high school.  Jeff always knew.  I get a sense of pride when I read about what he’s doing at Lake Shore or when I hear about how much his students love him or how hard he works.  I’m proud to call Jeff a friend.  Even though we don’t speak as often as we used to as distance, careers, and family have rearranged priorities a bit, he never fails to send correspondence after the birth of a child and he always checks in.  This year, Lake Shore senior high school is presenting Les Miserables.  Each year, my parents (both Lake Shore alums) receive a flyer from the musical department asking for patronage.  This year, Mrs. Currin and I decided to donate.  No act is selfless because doing something nice usually feels pretty good and it’s nice to donate to the arts while nurturing one of my longest lasting relationships. 

Act # 2 - G-UNYTS!!!

I’ve got a couple of connections with Upstate New York Transplant Services.  To start, a very close friend of the family works in the Eye and Tissue Department at UNYTS.  In addition to this connection, a very dear colleague of mine, lost her son in a tragic automobile accident and has devoted herself to raising $100,000 in her son, Andrew Gramza’s name for UNYTS.  That being said, this act was an easy one.  Over the break, my wife and I donated to UNYTS in Andrew’s name.  The fact that I was able to donate over the phone was quite convenient.   UNYTS keeps a running tally of the amount of money donated in a person’s name and at this point, Mrs. Gramza is about twenty percent of the way to achieving her goal.  I think she’ll hit the $1000,000 mark with ease to be honest, and I truly hope that she does.

Act # 1 - Parting Ways with a Jacket

The timing couldn't have been better.  As I was introducing the 26 Acts of Kindness project to my 4th block Online Publishing class one of my students came into the class wearing my jacket.  He and his aunt (a colleague of mine) went to my car to put some Christmas gifts in it and before he went outside, he grabbed my jacket out of my classroom.  They came into the room to return my keys and I gave him the jacket.  I feel a little uncomfortable being the person that shares these acts but since I've asked my students to do this, I'm going to have to get over it.  Students that are participating in this project are going to post five acts roughly every two weeks until we reach 26.  I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.  I've also asked that each blog be one hundred and fifty words in length and I am reminded of how difficult meeting a word count can be.