Chill Out...

Today (Monday, April 25th) was our last day of "crazy love" for the semester. We took the suggestion of another student in our class, Rebecca Joyner; she gave us the idea passing out snacks with some encouragement before finals. We took the idea and modified it a little bit to fit the wallet of a college student. And with the excellent help of Meagan's twin sister, Morgan, this event could be documented! With the perfect, warm weather, we decided to use Popsicles instead of snacks with a little note say, "Good luck with your exams! You're going to do awesome! No stress!"


Doug's Perspective 
This random act of kindness was a very rewarding and fun one. It was somewhat similar to one that we have done before, Sweet Inspiration. The main differences, though, were what made it more fun. When we passed out the suckers before it was somewhat cold, and cloudy out; today was sunny and warm outside. People really looked happy when we gave them a nice refreshing Popsicle, and even happier when they read the note.  We even had the opportunity to give Popsicles to some children of a family that may have been visiting the University. Perhaps, we made their impression of East Carolina a good one. Overall, this has been a real rewarding and life changing experience for me. I am glad that Meagan and I embarked on this adventure; and I hope that we have inspired you all to do your own random acts of kindness and continue to spread crazy love around the world.


Meagan's Perspective
We had so much fun and success with our last act of crazy love! The "Sweet Inspiration" was fun; but going back out there made a big impact, because people recognized as the ones who spread love to others just because we can. This also drew a crowd, because it was a hot day that was was also incredibly stressful for students and the Popsicle was refreshing and took the students' minds off of classes, even  if it was only for a moment. I loved participating in this project so much! It was awesome to put others first and to see the joy that it brought others to know they were being thought of first. I hope that all of you now have some ideas of what kind of crazy love you can spread to those around you! By the way, check out some pictures below!

Doug passing out notes and popsicles! 

(From left to right) Students, Suzi, Maddie, and Krystal, were
able to take a break on this hot day!

This is my friend, Ethan, who I helped in the last blog post!
He stopped by for a free Popsicle!

Friends Don't let Friends Stress Over Tests

Today, Monday April 18th, is another random act of kindness day for Doug and myself. However, due to work obligations, Doug would be unable to participate for this act of kindness. So I decided that if it was just my doing  this act of crazy love, I would do something that was more one-person oriented rather than a whole big group.


My act of kindness was to help my friend Ethan, who I share two classes with, de-stress over our upcoming difficult Organizational Communication exam by buying him a snack and drink after class today. I think this was a really interesting idea, because helping out a big group of people is always fun; but helping one person, in my opinion, can make just as much an impact as helping a big group.


And for the past acts of kindness, we have generally helped people we did not know and might not ever meet. It was a nice change of pace to help someone more personal to me. It was nice to have to realize that it doesn't matter how well or little we know someone, when we do something for someone, expecting anything back in return isn't necessary. It's a humbling, but important experience.


This is something I really encourage everyone to try. For example, Ethan got a snack and less stressed and I got the experience of humility knowing that I was asking for anything in return, despite our being good friends. It's not easy lesson to say that we don't want anything in return, but it's important to learn nonetheless.


Check back next week where we will be completing our final act of crazy love! It's going to be awesome!


(This is a picture of the boy Ethan, who I helped out today!) -->

We want to hear from YOU!

First, we just want to say that we appreciate you all who read this blog on the regular! It means a lot that we have so much support for a crazy love! However, we want to do more for you rather than just say, “Hey, look what we did!” We want to be able to say that YOU as a reader helped us! Post a suggestion of what random act of kindness you’d like to see us participate in within Greenville, NC; and when we do the act of kindness that you suggest, we will be letting the world that it was by YOUR suggestion that we are doing that particular act of crazy love!

Please tell us what you have to say! We want to know! And check back next week to see what random act of kindness we do simply because you gave us the inspiration!

A Rose a Day Keeps the Blues Away

Today, April 4th, our act of kindness was to give Mrs. Bernice, the greeter and cashier at West End Dining Hall, a bouquet of roses to show our appreciation for her hard work and good nature as she deals with college students everyday. Here's our perspective on this act of crazy love:


Doug's Perspective
I really enjoyed this random act of kindness. Mrs. Bernice seemed so thrilled when she rounded the corner and there we stood with a dozen roses to give her. She was very thankful and full of compliments and gratitude. So far, for me, this has definitely been the most rewarding act of kindness we have done. Also it was a very simple process that we took to go pick up flowers and deliver them. 


Meagan's Perspective
I really enjoyed this a lot! This is easily something a college student could do any day of the week. It was so rewarding for me, because Mrs. Bernice's reaction was full of thankfulness and appreciation; and it only cost about $10 for Doug and I together to do this for her so it makes it a perfect act of kindness for anyone trying to save to money. With all the many college students, Mrs. Bernice rarely gets thanked for her good attitude and patience. It felt great to be the people to make her day by simply saying "Thank you" and giving her something in return!


Be sure to check back by next Monday for another act of kindness!

Sweet Inspiration

On Monday, March 28th, at 9:30am, Doug and I stood outside of the East Carolina University Wright Plaza and passed out close to 350 suckers with encouraging and inspiring notes attached to them. Here is a perspective from each of us on this act of crazy love: 


Doug's Perspective
From my perspective, I found this one to be a little daunting at first. It felt a little odd walking up to people at first, because when I see people handing things out outside of Wright Plaza I usually assume that they are promoting some event or trying to get you to join their club; and I would usually avoid them at all cost. I was noticing that I would get that reaction from some people, where they would kind of try to avoid eye contact and speed up to get past me faster. About three people actually said they did not want any. However, those that did accept the suckers and notes did with gratitude. I would say that 98% of the people said thanks and smiled, which made this actually turn into an easier project than I had initially assumed. I noticed after I handed most of the suckers and notes out that the recipients read the notes as they were walking away, and although I could not see their reactions, I like to think that the inspirational notes did make their day somewhat better. 


Meagan's Perspective
I loved this act of kindness! People are so used to seeing strictly promotional things being passed out at Wright Plaza that when someone passes out something to simply encourage, they are taken back by surprise (in a good way, of course!).This was also the perfect day for a project like this, because on such a dreary day, it's nice to have a little encouragement to start off the morning. I also appreciated that people took the time to read the notes; I know that everyone didn't, but a good majority of people did. So many people expressed gratitude for the candy and notes. I loved hearing people discuss the notes; I had one girl ask if they were all different and when I said yes, she was so happy to know that she received encouragement that was just for her. I really enjoyed this act of kindness and this is something I would totally do again! 


Come back next week to read another crazy act of love!

Doing Good via Drive-Thru!

At 1:30pm on Friday afternoon on March 18^th, Doug and I went to Bojangles’ and went through the drive-thru and paid for the meal of the people driving behind us. We decided to do this, because it’s fast and something any person can do while grabbing something at a local fast food place! And we were also hoping it would start a chain reaction of people paying for the meal of the car behind them. One of the best examples, Doug and I found was “The Starbucks’ Pay-It-Forward”. Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out--http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x626051109/Starbucks-customers-pay-it-forward. Here’s our perspective on what we did!

Doug’s Perspective

From my perspective, even though I was not in the driver’s seat, it was a rewarding process. I could not see the person’s face when they got to the window and were told that they did not have to pay anything because we had just paid for it, but I imagine that it would have been an expression of gratitude. The Bojangles’ employee at the drive-thru window looked to be a little confused at first because he thought that we were with the person behind us. However, when we told him that we were not together, his expression changed to a joyful one. I don’t think that there would be much of a different experience across genders for this one because in a way you have a sense of anonymity when paying. So, overall, by hoping that I may have made someone’s day a little better, it made mine much better too.

Meagan’s Perspective

I thought this act of kindness was so much fun! It is so rewarding to know that this wasn’t about us but rather an inspiration to the car behind us that someone did something nice for them and perhaps spur them on to do something for the car behind them. The Bojangles’ employee’s expression was also rewarding, because he was happy to see someone being kind to people that they didn’t know personally or even at all. From my perspective, this is an act of kindness that could be turned into a once-a-month option, because fast food places are so affordable and helping out someone so frequently might start a chain reaction on a regular basis! And to me, that’s so rewarding and exciting!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

Check back next week to find out a new way to show the crazy love you can give to someone else!

Opening Doors: Girls > Boys

On Monday afternoon, March 14th, Doug and I went to Wright Plaza on the East Carolina University campus and opened doors for people entering and exiting the Dowdy Student Store. Here is a perspective from each of us: 

Doug's Perspective

From my perspective, I found that most of the people who I opened doors for were a little bit unsure of why I was opening the door for them. I feel like most of them were more intimidated than thankful of me opening their door. Although they all said thank you, most of them failed to make eye contact with me when they spoke, or even lift their heads. In my opinion, having me open the door instead of Meagan was less productive because it seemed to me that most of the people were way more comfortable having a female open their door rather than a male. 

Meagan's Perspective

I would definitely say that I had a far easier time opening doors and getting a friendly smile and "Thank you!" rather than Doug. I think my being a female and being smaller than Doug made me appear more approachable. In fact, the first person who Doug opened the door for thanked me instead of thanking Doug. I felt like people saw my opening the door as a way of being polite and friendly, whereas they might have seen Doug's attempt at opening the door a poor attempt at starting conversations with females. 

Check back in next week to read about more sane ways to show crazy love!