i’m getting a total kick out of reading some of the stories coming in from youth groups who are participating in the arkalmighty campaign. they’re being wonderfully proactive about gracing their communities with random kindnesses. what a cool thing.

here’s a great story from suzy bell at grace united methodist church in lasalle, illinois:

We just had our first Evan Free Day on Saturday May 12th. First, we helped the local post office collect their food for their Food Drive that they do every year. After the collection, We went to a local restaurant called the Root Beer Stand, where they make their own rootbeer. From 12-1, the youth handed out cards that said, “You’ve Been ‘Graced’ by the Youth of Grace UMC,” with our church contact information on it. When they handed out the card, they told the customers that we were paying for their rootbeer and ice cream from 12-1. The reactions were priceless such as “What is the catch to this, there is always a catch?”, “Can we give the money to your youth group then?” (the youth responded no, we aren’t taking any money, this is because we want to show God’s kindness to others) Some responded with a blank look on their face. While others smiled and said, “Bless you, bless you for your kindness.” A few asked us how this was possible to do, and it gave us a chance to talk about the program. Also, we heard many conversations about our church, as in the location, who attends, etc.. Overall, it was a very successful day. We are looking forward to our next “Evan Free Day”, as other youth wanting to get involved!

and this is a great story from jeff palmberg, from mercer island covenant church (in mercer island, washington):

we’re doing our first “Evan Day” event today — giving away sheets of 2-cent stamps outside our local post office (which happens to be next door to our church). It’s amazing how excited and happy people get when you give them .50 worth of stamps! We’ll probably be doing this all week. We didn’t come up with the idea until Monday night, so we missed a BUSY day at the post office, but there were still plenty of people who had come for that specific need. It’s been a lot of fun for those of us who’ve done it today. I’m hoping to get some students to do it after school the rest of this week.

check out the free arkalmighty kit (this is such a cool thing — i’m stoked that we get to give them away for free!). here’s what it has in it:
a four-week curriculum developed by youth specialties
an instructional ArkALMIGHTY DVD hosted by actor John Goodman
a copy of the book, Conspiracy of Kindness, by Steve Sjogren
tons of ArkALMIGHTY gear—including t-shirts, banner, hats, and more

just go here, on the ys site, to get more info, and for the link to the free kit thingy.