EDMOND, Okla – Not long ago, someone at an Edmond grocery store discovered a five-dollar bill behind a can of vegetables. A business card accompanied it with a message: “Rotary Loves Edmond – This act of kindness brought to you by Rotary Club of Edmond – Service Above Self.”

Throughout the city, residents are discovering other surprises, from one member giving his ice scraper to a stranger in need to another Rotarian giving his shopping cart to a person struggling to get two carts unstuck.  Though simple and random, they are deliberate acts of kindness encouraged by the club’s president, Beth Case.   

"This idea is not new to our club,” Case said. “We have done this effort in the past. But with an economy posing challenges and the world coming out of COVID, we just feel people need to know there are other people who care. You never know what the person standing next to you is going through. We can be the people whose kindness encourages someone to not give up.”

So, not long ago, Case encouraged her club to take the acts of kindness cards and get busy performing five acts of kindness in a campaign called Give Me 5.

Edmond residents are finding kindness across the area. Whether it was a woman whose dollar store purchase was picked up by a club member standing in line behind her, or it was The Genesis Project who benefitted when a club member gathered friends from her sorority to purchase items from the treatment center’s wish list. Boys at the facility receiving therapies and care for child abuse were showered with gifts, arts and crafts, shoes, and clothes.

Case is encouraging club members to share their stories of kindness and there are many being added to the Give Me 5 collection.

From another member helping Case unload soil for Scissortail Elementary School’s garden or rounding up a Girl Scout cookie purchase well beyond the retail price, the club is being energized to live out its motto: Service Above Self.

"This is a way our club can be encouraged, too,” Case said. “When we see how our club is impacting our community in real, personal ways, we are inspired to do more.”

The club effort coincides with Random Acts of Kindness Day by Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. You can find a full list of acts of kindness by club members and ways you can join the effort on The Rotary Club of Edmond’s website.

Members of The Rotary Club of Edmond join staff at Scissortail Elementary School to unload a trailer full of soil to build a student garden.
 
The Rotary Club of Edmond, member, Carol Hartzog, organized 16 people to help decorate bags for Crossings Church’s medical/dental clinic. The clinic serves primarily undocumented people with diabetes.
 
 

A Random Act of Kindness card by The Rotary Club of Edmond. Club members are encouraged to leave cards behind when they demonstrate kind acts through a campaign called Give Me 5.