[00:01:47] Deanna Kitchen: Welcome back to the Growing Kindness Podcast. It is a delight and an honor to get to introduce you to one of our longtime team members who has been growing kindness in her community for such a long time.
[00:02:01] Deanna Kitchen: Amy, we're so glad to have you with us here today. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about who you are and the corner of the world where you're growing kindness.
[00:02:10] Amy Sonnek: Sure. Happy to do that. Hi Deanna. I'm Amy, and I am from Stillwater, Minnesota. It's a small little riverside town on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I live in a little small community.
[00:02:28] Amy Sonnek: We have a little house and I have three kids. They're all in middle school, two boys and a girl. I have twins, Ani Arlo, and my oldest is Abe. My husband is Aaron and we call ourselves the A team.
[00:02:41] Deanna Kitchen: I love that. How fun is that?
[00:02:42] Amy Sonnek: Let's see, what else. We have five backyard chickens, one accidental rooster, which is kind of a funny story, and a dog named Penny.
[00:02:50] Amy Sonnek: I work during the day as a special education para at the school, just around the corner at elementary school where all my kids went and absolutely love it there. And that's me.
[00:03:01] Deanna Kitchen: That's so fun. That's so fun. I actually somehow didn't realize all your kids were in middle. School already funny because I think back and forth, you know, when you first meet people or get connected, that's where you kind of get stuck.
[00:03:11] Deanna Kitchen: I'm like, oh no, your, your kids are still,
[00:03:13] that's
[00:03:13] Amy Sonnek: their permanent age.
[00:03:14] Deanna Kitchen: Your kids are still smaller than that in my head, but yeah.
[00:03:17] Amy Sonnek: Yes,
[00:03:17] Deanna Kitchen: all middle school. How fun.
[00:03:19] Amy Sonnek: Yes.
[00:03:19] Deanna Kitchen: How fun.
[00:03:20] Amy Sonnek: It's crazy.
[00:03:21] Deanna Kitchen: Yes. I.
[00:03:22] Amy Sonnek: We just signed up my oldest for high school last week, so that's kind of sinking in like, oh my gosh,
[00:03:27] Deanna Kitchen: we're here. It's, and you blink and then your oldest will be graduating.
[00:03:32] Deanna Kitchen: That's the boat we're in right now. It it,
[00:03:34] Amy Sonnek: oh my gosh.
[00:03:35] Deanna Kitchen: It's, it goes so fast. Like I, and one of the things, because I loved about someone shared with me once about motherhood is like sometimes the days are really long, but the years are always short. The years go so quickly.
[00:03:44] Amy Sonnek: That is so true. And I find myself now just trying to hold onto these little glimmers and these little moments.
[00:03:50] Amy Sonnek: And spending all the time together that we can.
[00:03:52] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah, absolutely. Well, Amy, it's just, it's so fun to get to hear more of your story. I think one of the things that look at the power of story and the way that it brings us into connection and how we've been telling stories since time began, I'm really excited to hear.
[00:04:10] Deanna Kitchen: More of your story. So where does your growing kindness story begin, really, would you say?
[00:04:16] Amy Sonnek: My actual growing kindness story began when in 2021 was when I first stumbled across the Growing Kindness Instagram page. It was obviously during COVID, during the shutdown. I, at the time, you know, this was five years ago, so.
[00:04:31] Amy Sonnek: My children were pretty little. I was home and just feeling very disconnected and seeking and yearning for a real sense of connection and community. It was really hard, you know, it was kind of a dark time and I stumbled across the growing kind. I don't even know how, like how does this even happen? Like the algorithms and whatnot.
[00:04:51] Amy Sonnek: But it. It was meant to be that it stumbled across my page and I knew in my gut right away that it was something that I needed to look into and learn more about. And I think probably either that same day or the next day, I applied to be a growing kindness ambassador. 'cause applications were open at that time.
[00:05:12] Amy Sonnek: I really just felt in my heart that it was the right thing to do and I've never looked back. I've been a part of it ever since.
[00:05:18] Deanna Kitchen: That's so beautiful. I love the way that the things that are meant for us, they arrive at the right, the timing is always right, but how beautiful that it really truly came just the right time for you.
[00:05:28] Deanna Kitchen: What do you feel like, was it that like really tugged at you and made you say yes? What was the element that you're like, this is for me and I wanna be a part of this movement and this community?
[00:05:37] Amy Sonnek: I've thought about this a lot over the years and I think that. The thing that really tugged at my heartstrings, it's kind of two parts.
[00:05:43] Amy Sonnek: So the first part is the ripple effect that we often talk about at the Growing Kindness Movement Project, the ripple effect of kindness and how our one small act of giving a bouquet of flowers to a neighbor, to our secretary at work, to the person working at the gas station, like how the ripple effect can then go beyond and beyond and beyond.
[00:06:05] Amy Sonnek: And that was the piece that was like. This is something that I definitely want to be a part of because I've been on the receiving end of small, big, medium acts of kindness, and I feel like it's what makes the world go round and that what we need more of, more and more of every day. It's the reason I'll probably be a growing kindness person forever, because I cannot just, I cannot give that up, that ripple effect and thinking about how that can make the world a better place, and so that's.
[00:06:36] Amy Sonnek: Part one, and then the other part is how. When I read about the, is it Arthur Ashby, quote,
[00:06:44] Deanna Kitchen: Arthur
[00:06:44] Amy Sonnek: Ash, that where you are with what?
[00:06:45] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:06:46] Amy Sonnek: Ash, thank you. The Arthur Ash quote that you say a lot and I really way too much
[00:06:51] Deanna Kitchen: probably.
[00:06:52] Amy Sonnek: No, no. Um, it's
[00:06:54] Deanna Kitchen: my favorite.
[00:06:54] Amy Sonnek: I just, it's important.
[00:06:56] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah. I love it.
[00:06:57] Amy Sonnek: Start where you are with what you have.
[00:06:59] Amy Sonnek: Is that it?
[00:06:59] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah. Start where you are. Use what you have, do what you can.
[00:07:03] Amy Sonnek: Yes. And I just love that. And I think that for me, having three kids, a very busy life. That was like, yep, this is even more for me because I don't need to have a flower, a perfect Instagram, perfect flower farm, or I didn't have anything really in 2021, I had no gardens, nothing, and just started totally from scratch, and I felt like it was doable.
[00:07:29] Amy Sonnek: It was something that I could do because. It's just starting with what I have, and that was really profound for me. Okay. I don't need to buy five acres, 10 acres, 20 acres, and like have all this knowledge already in me. I can learn it and I can use what I have in our tiny backyard.
[00:07:45] Deanna Kitchen: I love that. So when you started in 2021, I guess this is a part of your story, I'm like, did I realize that you'd never grown flowers?
[00:07:52] Deanna Kitchen: I think that's even more beautiful. So you jumped right in. What was your, of course we've gotta have like what was your first garden? Like how big did you go or how little, because I think it's so, such a good reminder for us all. Like you said, it doesn't have to be about having this massive garden. So what did that first garden look like for you?
[00:08:10] Amy Sonnek: Well, luckily for me, I have a very handy husband who is a woodworker and I had him build me, I think at the time it was two raised beds. They were four by eight. Raised beds in our south facing backyard. And so that's what I started with. I don't have much more than that right now actually, 'cause I find that I don't really need that much more.
[00:08:29] Amy Sonnek: But yeah, it was two raised beds and I did one bed was dahlia's, and then the other one was a combo of Zia's and cosmos, and that's all I had. And it totally felt like enough.
[00:08:39] Deanna Kitchen: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think the thing that it can be so intimidating with growing flowers is this idea that it's got to be, and there's so much education out there that is really focused on flower farming or farming for, or like growing flowers for profit, and it can kind of be a little.
[00:08:57] Deanna Kitchen: Bit intimidating, but really the reality is on, and it really does come back to that like, like Arthur Ash quote of Just start with what you have. Start small. I actually like my regret as an early gardener is trying to go too big too soon, and then it's overwhelming when you start with a little bit, it's easy to have a hunger and do more, rather than be just overwhelmed with massive amounts of weeding or watering or even harvesting and knowing what to do with.
[00:09:26] Deanna Kitchen: A huge volume of flowers. So I love that. You just really, you jumped right in both feet first, but you did it in a way that made sense for you and your family and what you had to give at that time. So beautiful.
[00:09:40] Amy Sonnek: Yeah. It's just what felt right at the time. And yeah, like I said, we don't really have much more than that now.
[00:09:45] Amy Sonnek: I have a couple more raised beds that I use. One for herbs and one just for fillers. And then we have a community garden plot, but that's it. They didn't really go much further than that. And every year I do something different. I don't grow the same dahlias every year. I don't grow the same cosmos or zinnias.
[00:10:02] Amy Sonnek: I try to do one or two new things every year.
[00:10:05] Deanna Kitchen: It keeps it fun and interesting, but also you're within that range of like, Hey, I know these sars work for me. Yeah.
[00:10:12] Amy Sonnek: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:12] Deanna Kitchen: I'm gonna branch off and try some different varieties or colors. Hey, I know these are gonna grow for me, so that's so great. Well, once you got those beds in the ground, and once those first blooms came up, I'd love to hear about what that felt like.
[00:10:27] Deanna Kitchen: Do you remember what was your first bouquet that you gave? Okay.
[00:10:30] Amy Sonnek: Oh, totally. I remember. Yep. I remember my very first bouquet was early July of 2021, and I had just gotten back from a week at the cabin, and our neighbors had been watering all our flowers. And I got back and all the zinnias had bloomed and I was just like, oh, this is it.
[00:10:49] Amy Sonnek: This is awesome. So my entire bouquet was all zinnias. I totally like it just was what it was. Right? And I brought them to the memory care center where my grandma was living at the time. She had Alzheimer's. And I brought them in through the front doors, up the stairs with my kids and put the bouquet on a table and.
[00:11:11] Amy Sonnek: Within five minutes, there were probably 10 or 12 people just sitting down around this little like coffee table, all with memory Alzheimer's or dementia, talking about flowers and how they remembered growing whatever kind of flower their mom or their grandma. Grew and like that was like so etched in my brain.
[00:11:31] Amy Sonnek: I will never, ever forget, like, yep, this is what it's all about. Creating those connections with one as probably, it wasn't mason jar with probably five or six zinnias in it. It wasn't much, but it was enough.
[00:11:43] Deanna Kitchen: It's always enough, like when we give what we can, like it's that reminder. I think it's, it feels so contrary to all the messaging we see receive from everything else is not skinny enough, not fast enough, not rich enough, not, not whatever, enough.
[00:11:56] Deanna Kitchen: And it's so beautiful when we get to see how life actually works, that it is enough, and when we just show up with what we have, like five zinnias, I bet you would've put one zinnia in a jar. It would've been the same. I got goosebumps when just picturing all those. Sweet souls gathered around this little bouquet and it, the way that it drew them in and it drew them out like, uh, into each other in conversation and sharing, especially sweet thinking about these are people who are navigating memory challenges.
[00:12:29] Deanna Kitchen: So, so that it so quickly triggered something at their core that was special to them and they were able to share. That is just a beautiful reminder. Of how powerful just a little bit can do.
[00:12:43] Amy Sonnek: Uh, but a little bit, it's always enough. And just the memory of doing that will stay with me forever. She's not here with us anymore, but like I have that memory every year when I grow these gardens, it comes back and it's such a beautiful thing and I'm so.
[00:13:00] Amy Sonnek: Grateful for it to have that, and it's just something that's in me and now hopefully in my kids and my family, and they can see that things, it's always enough and it's always meaningful to. Do what you can with what you have. It's always enough. I'm so grateful for that, and hopefully other people can see that the community and that the ripple effect goes on and on.
[00:13:26] Deanna Kitchen: Truly, truly. As you were sharing that too, just I picturing for your kids what that first experience like was like for them. Amy, I know that you've actually brought your kids really along for the ride from the very beginning. I would love. To hear more about how that looked for you guys as a family and like what age your kids were when you started growing together.
[00:13:48] Deanna Kitchen: So as a mom who really, honestly growing kindness, really was born from my own need as a mother who was walking through I, and this was pre COVI, but like walking through feeling really isolated, finding a way that I could reach out in my community, but also this like just deep in my heart of figuring out.
[00:14:07] Deanna Kitchen: Exactly what you're saying is like how do we as a family raise children who know that they are empowered to do something? And I don't know that there'll be 25-year-old men growing flower gardens, but I hope there'll be the 25-year-old men someday who look over and see someone who needs the door held.
[00:14:26] Deanna Kitchen: Like just that learning that I can always. Do something for someone else. So can you share more of what happened? You planted the first garden. Were the kids involved? How did that go?
[00:14:36] Amy Sonnek: Yeah, they were involved, so the twins were in kindergarten at the time when I planted that first, my first year as an ambassador, and then my oldest was just.
[00:14:46] Amy Sonnek: Two years older than that, so second grade. And they definitely helped build the, the raised beds helped move all the soil and the dirt in and get it all ready. And my daughter and I planted most of the beds. I would say I felt, I feel like my daughter has been my right hand gal and still is. She still loves it.
[00:15:05] Amy Sonnek: My sons do too, but that was really important for me to include my kids. Not only my kids, but all the neighborhood kids. So we were in this little like COVID bubble. We have neighbors to, to this side that have three kids the same age as our kids. And then across the street there's another family with three kids, similar ages.
[00:15:23] Amy Sonnek: They all hung out all the time. It was really important for me to pull the whole community in, so they were all part of it. Building the, building, the, the raised beds and like. Watering and harvesting. And then what came to be the growing kindness crew, the North Hill growing kindness neighborhood crew is like what they like call themselves and they made signs.
[00:15:47] Amy Sonnek: We built a cart, we painted the cart. They chose the color. My husband kind of added onto it. A friend of mine made some little like scalloped banners for it and whatever was growing at the time. I have a few perennials around the yard, but not much. They would harvest, we'd get the mason jars and put 'em, set 'em at the end of the driveway, and they would put the bubble machine on and people walking by, they would just holler out free flowers, or come get your growing kindness bouquet and.
[00:16:20] Amy Sonnek: They did it the whole summer and for. Three summers afterwards, they have done the same thing.
[00:16:25] Deanna Kitchen: Oh my goodness. I just, I can't, you can't stop smiling because it's pretty funny.
[00:16:29] Amy Sonnek: I mean,
[00:16:29] Deanna Kitchen: it's, I mean,
[00:16:30] Amy Sonnek: yeah,
[00:16:30] Deanna Kitchen: the, just the energy and the excitement. Mm-hmm. And just, you can just picture the joyfulness, their joyfulness in getting to do this, and the whole time they're learning this just beautiful, powerful lesson of.
[00:16:42] Deanna Kitchen: How simple and easy it is to reach out and help other people and how fun and joyful it is to spread kindness like the bubble machine. Just that topic it, it was a party. Yes.
[00:16:52] Amy Sonnek: That just added a little
[00:16:53] Deanna Kitchen: extra flare. I love that. Okay, so since then, is the flower stand kind of one of the predominant ways that you guys gift flowers in your community, or are there other ways that you have found either yourself or together as a family that you've.
[00:17:06] Deanna Kitchen: Really loved giving flowers.
[00:17:08] Amy Sonnek: I'd say that's one of the main ways I feel like I have kind of three main ways that we give now. Yeah. One is the free flower stand at the end of our driveway or up on the corner, which gets more visibility. And then the second way is every summer I host a twinkly front porch soiree, and I.
[00:17:26] Amy Sonnek: Whoever wants to come. A lot of my girlfriends, their friends, coworkers, everybody comes and brings two VAEs or vessels, and I do a bouquet bar and I call it the growing kindness bouquet bar. And they make one bouquet. I do a little bouquet tutorial, and then one bouquet they keep, and then the other one, they get a growing kindness tag to put on it and they give that one away.
[00:17:50] Amy Sonnek: So the last few summers, I've probably had around 25 to 30 women that come to this. So that's 30 Bo 60 bouquets, but 30 bouquets that they then give away in kindness to whoever, neighbors and whoever, wherever they're heading back to. So that's the second way that I have absolutely. Loved hosting that event.
[00:18:13] Amy Sonnek: And I should say, going back to the use what you have, I've never spent like any time or money in getting extra things for that. People bring their own bases and. All I have to do is like, do like this, like Batman beacon and call for people like to bring VAEs or like extra perennials or fillers or greens, and people are very willing to just go out in their yards and clip whatever they have to bring a big bunch to put in a bucket so we have enough.
[00:18:42] Amy Sonnek: There's always, always enough. I have never had to get anything extra from any greenhouse. Reiterating the fact that a little bit goes a long way and that there is truly always enough.
[00:18:53] Deanna Kitchen: I think too, it really illustrates the beauty of when we invite others in. I think your story especially highlights that Amy, is that when you invited your kids in alongside of this and then the neighbor kids, the joy was amplified, but also this seeding this thought of this beautiful way that you can reach out and help others.
[00:19:12] Deanna Kitchen: And then again, instead of saying, I'm gonna make 60 bouquets by myself and give them. Instead, you've got to have the joy invite 25, 30 people into the joy of getting to just be. Flowers have such a huge impact on us. They just, they're. They, I don't, it's hard to even have words where they, they make us feel at rest and inspired and, and they're just get to work with flowers in community.
[00:19:38] Deanna Kitchen: It just brings everybody, brings everybody, like, it welcomes an openness and conversation and so not only did you. Get to send out, help send out these ripples into further into your community, but then get to invite other people into the joy of just getting to experience flowers, I think is so cool. I mean, really when you said like it's really important to you that those ripples have kindness continue and that's what inspired you.
[00:20:04] Deanna Kitchen: It's so cool to see that's what's happening. In your life and in your community because of you saying yes and doing what you can and starting where you are.
[00:20:14] Amy Sonnek: I need to say there are summers where I feel like I haven't done quite as much as other summers, but I wanna like that's okay. Like. One bouquet or a hundred bouquets.
[00:20:24] Amy Sonnek: It's all good.
[00:20:25] Deanna Kitchen: And I think that sometimes we forget that rhythm of nature is the same in our lives also, right? Like we, we expect that we're always growing, always blooming, always producing, and yet nothing in nature does that. It hibernates for the winter or it has a season of bloom and then a season of rest.
[00:20:45] Deanna Kitchen: And I think it's really, I think thank you for saying that and normalizing that because there are seasons where. We have capacity to give more abundantly and then other times where maybe we don't have the capacity to give with that frequency or that volume of flowers or whatever it may be, but we still have the opportunity to have those moments of intentionality.
[00:21:06] Deanna Kitchen: So like whether that's one single bloom when being really intentional about looking for the person in need. But I love that you mentioned that. We go through those seasons of abundance and there may be seasons of need even, and they're both such a part. Of our story of who we are and how we show up in our community.
[00:21:24] Amy Sonnek: Another thing that I've done that has actually been really, really a beautiful thing is I ask people in my community, either on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, text, whatever it is, I'll ask people, Hey, do you know someone that could use a little extra love? And I'd be happy to make them a growing kindness bouquet, and I'll deliver it.
[00:21:46] Amy Sonnek: Or you can come pick it up and. I don't know. I just feel like a lot of times we overthink things like, oh my gosh, I just don't even know who to give it to, or what are they gonna think? Or it's just, you don't have to look too far to find someone that could use a little extra dose of kindness. So even asking like just point blank like, Hey, and then somebody comes back to me.
[00:22:08] Amy Sonnek: Yep. My mother-in-law just passed away. Would you mind whipping up a okay for me using whatever you have. It's always very well received and I'm so grateful to be able to, to do that for somebody else that is just missing this thing that sometimes when you're going through hard things, it's nice to have something physically in your hand to give to someone.
[00:22:30] Deanna Kitchen: I have found that very much that experiences. There's something about we wanna show up for people and there's something really empowering about flowers in our hand and helping us to be able to do that. This fall, I really real, I realized that I didn't know a lot of our neighbors and we've been in our area for 10 years, so like, yikes.
[00:22:49] Deanna Kitchen: Like this is, it was something I wanted to remedy, and yet it did. It did feel really hard just to go knock on people's door and say, Hey, I'm your neighbor. But it felt so much easier if I had flowers in my hand. Like it's just this tangible tool and goodness, isn't it cool the way that flowers just break down barriers and open doors, like quite literally sometimes open doors for conversations and connections and just for letting people know, Hey, I, even if it's an outreach, I just, I see you.
[00:23:17] Deanna Kitchen: Yes. And this is for you? Yes.
[00:23:19] Amy Sonnek: I see you. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:23:20] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah. That's so cool.
[00:23:21] Amy Sonnek: That is cool. Yeah. It is a great, yeah, just a way to, yeah, break down those barriers.
[00:23:26] Deanna Kitchen: Amy, as you share your story, I can just see over and over again. You mentioned before that you know that what drew you the most to growing kindness was the opportunity to send out these ripples of kindness.
[00:23:36] Deanna Kitchen: But, or I should say, and as you share, it's very evident that's what's happening. In your family and in your neighborhood and in your community through your kindness. And it's also easy to see the forward reaching impact that was going to have on your kids. It just makes me consider how we all end up in the place where we are.
[00:23:57] Deanna Kitchen: What were the ripples of kindness that touched your life that helped you to have an awareness of how important it's to continue that legacy of sending ripples of kindness forward?
[00:24:08] Amy Sonnek: When I was 25, my dad tragically passed away, and at his funeral, dozens and dozens of people came up to the front of the church to talk about him and how his gentle kindness affected them in a profound way.
[00:24:25] Amy Sonnek: It wasn't anything big. It was him stopping on the way home from work to help change a tire or to fix a car. It was him. Bring in his own car to help somebody move. It was helping somebody paint their house, build a new deck. It wasn't anything huge. It was a small, gentle kindness that he had in him that people saw, and that made a profound effect on their lives.
[00:24:57] Amy Sonnek: On our lives too, as his children and his family. And I am just, I'm deeply affected by that and I want to continue that gentle, kind legacy in myself and in our own family.
[00:25:13] Deanna Kitchen: And obviously you are. You are. Amy. Like, it's so beautiful. It's beautiful. Thank you. Part of your story,
[00:25:21] Amy Sonnek: it's a big part of it. And.
[00:25:23] Amy Sonnek: It's something that is hard to, not hard to talk about, but it's something that's just always there. Always a constant reminder and in missing him, doing the growing kindness project helps me feel closer to, to him in a way, if that even makes sense.
[00:25:41] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah, absolutely it does. Peers, I just think it's so important when we share.
[00:25:47] Deanna Kitchen: All of our story because it's what makes us who we are. And also, it's so beautiful to see the, like you, when you said like, ripples of kindness are important to me, it's because you've watched it. Now you're being intentional about carrying it forward. And I think all of the people that we've loved, they are, they're a part of our story, a part of our heart, a part of our lives, and getting to carry them.
[00:26:13] Deanna Kitchen: Forward like that and remember them like that is, it doesn't ever take away what's missing, but it. Reminds us of the, of the beautiful, of the beauty of what was in that relationship and in our time with that person.
[00:26:29] Amy Sonnek: Yeah. I just, I, it's important just to acknowledge that and just, I just feel, I feel it in my heart that this is, somehow connects us and it's a good thing
[00:26:40] Deanna Kitchen: and, and our core as humans, that's what we we're all longing for, is more connection.
[00:26:44] Deanna Kitchen: And thank you for your story today and your vulnerability and sharing the parts that are. Tender and that you hold close too, because I think sometimes we're longing for connection and yet we sometimes maybe feel like. Afraid to share all of who we are or, or maybe sometimes feel like some of the parts are more like air quotes, like Instagram worthy, they're prettier, they're the, the just all of the, the outcome or the end product rather than that kind of.
[00:27:15] Deanna Kitchen: High and low experiences that make us who we are and bring us to where we are. And I think when we all show up and share our story and the gift of someone listening like you, listener today, when you hold space to hear somebody's story, it's this exchange of kindness and it's, it brings us into deeper connection.
[00:27:36] Deanna Kitchen: It's just such a beautiful spiral in the most positive way because. The more that we're honest and open and share all of who we are and share what we have and show up as we are, whether that's with the hard parts of our stories or the single bloom that grew that year, like whatever it is that we show up with it.
[00:27:57] Deanna Kitchen: Invites other people into connection and then that just creates this ripple that it, or spiral that comes right back. So it's really lovely. Amy, thank you for sharing all of this with us today. We, we always end on a little question that I think actually just. Reveals so much beauty. And that question is, what is one small kindness that someone once shared with you that you still carry with you in your heart today?
[00:28:26] Amy Sonnek: That's such a good question. I'd have to say my grandma always wrote handwritten notes when I was in college and she would send them every so often just to let me know that she cares and that is thinking about me. And so that little small. Act of kindness. Not so small, but it just carries with me today and forever.
[00:28:47] Amy Sonnek: And so whenever I write a little handwritten note, I just feel like a little bit piece of her with me and hope that it sends some kindness and love just out to whoever it's intended for.
[00:28:59] Deanna Kitchen: Hmm. It's a beautiful reminder. Kindness does not have to be big to change somebody's life, and it impact them in the most beautiful ways.
[00:29:10] Deanna Kitchen: Thank you so much for listening to the Growing Kindness Podcast. If today's episode encouraged you, there are a few simple ways to keep growing kindness with us. First, you can join the team. When you become a growing kindness gardener, you link arms with like-minded like-hearted people from all around the world who believe that small acts of kindness really do make a big difference.
[00:29:30] Deanna Kitchen: To learn more or join the team, visit Growing kindness project.org/gardner. Thanks to the generosity of our donors. Membership is free. Another way to get involved is to become a donor, the growing kindness movement. And this our podcast, are made possible by the generosity of our donors, kindhearted people who believe just like you.
[00:29:50] Deanna Kitchen: Kindness matters. If you'd like to support the movement, visit growing kindness project.org/donate to make a gif and keep kindness blooming. And finally, if this episode touched your heart, would you share it with a friend? It's one of the simplest ways to spread kindness today. I'm so grateful you're here and.
[00:30:08] Deanna Kitchen: Next time, keep growing kindness one at a time.
