Showing a Little Kindness

Inspired, encouraged, and at times, financed, by Vineyard Community Church in the TriCounty area of Cincinnati, Friendship undertook weekly kindness outreaches from 1997 to 2002. We gave away cold cans of Coke in the warm months, dollar-off coupons for gas at the SuperAmerica station at Route 32 and Old Route 74, cans of soup, Busken pastries, and other things. When asked why, we responded, truthfully, "We're trying to share the love of God in practical ways."

Brenda (Hilberg) Knorr was probably the most consistent participant in the outreaches.

In the five years we ran the outreaches, we "committed" more than 20,000 acts of kindness, all of which I've documented in a journal.

These two pictures were snapped during an outreach in September, 1998. In the bottom pic you see adults, from left to right, Bill and Kris Smith and Amy Cheney. The young man is Kris' son, Kyle. Bill and Kris were later transferred to Rhode Island.

[Click on image to enlarge.]