Sharing Some Christmas Joy

We love Christmas.
 
The lights. The celebrations. The holiday wishes from partners and friends that arrive in our mailbox daily. Everything feels a little happier this time of year.
 
For us, it’s also a time to pause and reflect on the joy we experience year round. We are blessed and grateful, and delight in brainstorming ways we can share that joy with others.
 
In recognition of this, last year we decided at add a holiday tradition at Reach Partners.
 
Anita and Rachel each took two $50 bills and challenged each other to make somebody’s day a little brighter, a little better. We wanted to give back.  It was our small way to pay it forward.
 
It was so much fun.
 
Rachel anonymously tipped the hard-working baristas at a coffee shop she frequented often and an office building employee. Anita stopped at a local school and slipped cash (tucked in envelopes) under windshield wipers of cars in the staff parking lot.
 
We don’t know how the surprise gifts were received, but giving them sure made us giddy. We felt like Santa – (we play the role of his elves often) -- sneaking around and spreading some holiday joy.
 
This year we’ve expanded the tradition. We’ve given our team members $100 to pay forward over the next few weeks. There are no restrictions or expectations. Just encouragement to share Reach Partners’s blessings with our community.
 
We expect that part of the fun will come from thinking of different ways to spread the joy: Pick up the tab for coffee drinkers at a favorite coffee shop? Purchase snow pants for kindergartners who don’t have appropriate winter wear? Hide $1 bills among the shelves at a local dollar store?
 
The opportunities really are endless.
 
Merry Christmas!
 
Want to join Reach Partners in spreading some unexpected Christmas joy? Try one or more of these ideas:

1. Buy coffee (or lunch) for the person in line behind you.
2. Tape quarters to an arcade game.
3. Purchase a box of diapers (larger sizes are appreciated!) and deliver to an organization like Churches United for the Homeless or the YWCA.
4. Generously tip a barista, server or hair stylist.
5. Give someone who is overwhelmed -- perhaps by a new baby, health issue or a lack of mobility -- a call when you’re going to the store. Ask if they’d like you to pick up something.
6. Send a thank-you note to a teacher, a police officer, a firefighter.
7. Arrange for flowers to be delivered to a nursing home or to a hospital. Honor the staff or the residents/patients.
8. Write a note of encouragement and slip it into a magazine in a health clinic waiting room.
9. Call a local elementary school and offer to read a book to a classroom.
10. Purchase $5 gift cards and hand out to people for being awesome.