By Dawn Vogelsang, president, for our Random Acts of Kindness blog series

We issued a Random Acts of Kindness Challenge at the end of 2015 for any associate that wished to participate. We had a great response – the majority of our associates signed up and they had very positive individual experiences (which we shared through a blog series we started last year). After reading about what associates did in the challenge, there were several associates that regretted not signing up to participate. Because it was such a rewarding and meaningful experience for us in 2015, we decided to issue the Challenge again in 2016.

As with most of our charitable giving, the recipients are chosen by our employees. The Random Acts of Kindness Challenge allows for even more personal giving, as every individual decides exactly where their gifts are going and often have the opportunity to interact with the person that will benefit. The recipient isn’t always a charity or person in need, but could be someone that appears to be having a challenging day or could just use a smile. In many cases associates are giving back directly within our community, and in most instances, it inspires further giving – many times recipients commit to “paying it forward.” It feels good to spread hope and kindness.

I was happy to push myself out of my comfort zone this year during the challenge, and do something different than I did the previous year. It’s very rewarding to be able to help others.

I hope you’ll enjoy the continuation of our blog series that chronicles experiences our associates had in conducting random acts of kindness in 2016. Perhaps you’ll find inspiration to further your spreading of goodwill as well.