All Hands On Deck!

Yesterday we commemorated the Rebbe’s 26th Yahrtzeit, and to mark that day, we have relaunched the ARK project.

We had originally met with local schools and organizations, yet the quarantine closed those schools and businesses.

Now we hope to spread ARK directly through each home and office.

The Rebbe set an example for how society can heal itself from within- through nurturing the inherent goodness within each of us and cultivating the empathy we all possess.

Tzedaka- Charitable giving was a constant theme in the Rebbe’s teachings, to the extent that he started a campaign to educate each person to become a consistent giver. I remember as a child when the Rebbe had encouraged each of us to keep a charity box in our bedroom, and that each home should have one as well in the kitchen, as a visual reminder to give.

Consistent giving, he taught, was the surest way to strengthen our “kindness muscle” and make it a natural way of life.

To get the ARK project started, we shared the following post on Chabad’s Facebook page:

All hands on deck!

That’s the call you hear onboard the ship when the storm gets rough, the going gets tough and every sailor’s participation is needed.

All hands on deck!

That’s the call of the hour to each one of us, as our efforts are needed to navigate through the current challenges and turmoil in our world.

This little boat is a charity box named ARK, (for Acts of Random Kindness), and our goal is to get one of these into every single home in the Clark County community (and then beyond!).

We all want to make our world better and our communities kinder, yet having an awareness and a will to make change is only the first step.

It must then be followed by action.

(Kind of like swimming…You can hear all about it from an instructor, but you’ll only become a good swimmer after getting your feet wet.

Kind of like healthy living…You can read all about it, but it’ll only go into effect once you start eating and living healthier.)

We all value kindness and compassion, and this ARK will enable you to DO kindness and BE compassionate. Doing Kindness is the surest way to pass that value on to our kids too.

Similar to any learned skill, kindness needs repetition in order for it to be our default mode of action. With this ARK in your home, you can drop a coin in it every single day, until your life (and by ripple effect, our community and then the world at large) will be filled, not just with Acts of Random Kindness, but rather Acts of Routine Kindness.

(Once filled, bring it to any charitable cause or person in need. Or simply write a check/make an online donation, in the same sum of all the coins you’ve collected.

Get your entire family involved in giving, daily and consistently.

Share an ARK with every friend.

Tell your co-workers about it.

Leave one at every office you visit.

Give one to every client.

We all know how quickly tiny, infinitesimal droplets spread… let’s make kindness spread even quicker.)

Visit www.ARKClarkCounty.com to order Your ARK

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom.