Donating Fruit

     Over the past few months, I've come across many different websites that make it easy to be kind.  Let me tell you about a new one that I just discovered.  Juicy Juice, which is a Nestle company, has undertaken a project to donate up to 35 million pieces of fruit this summer to children and families who are "food insecure."  This is a phrase that refers to the millions of people who lack access to enough nutritionally adequate food to be healthy.  The "Fruit for All" project is an effort to address this challenge, which is particularly acute during the summer months when kids are out of school.  

     To participate in the project, and make a difference to those in need, is incredibly simple and easy.  All you have to do is go to their website and respond to their weekly challenge.  This week's challenge is a simple pop quiz.  Answer the questions and they donate a piece of fruit.  It only took me a few minutes to do.  Each week, a new challenge is posted.  So far, over 10 million pieces of fruit have been donated.  Donations are distributed through a network of regional food banks run by Feeding America.  It doesn't get much easier than this to make a difference.

     On a separate, but related note, I wanted to share an observation I had today.  I spent several hours this afternoon trying to resolve a computer issue through a vendor's tech support line.  Nothing I tried would work, I was on interminably long holds, the people I spoke to barely spoke understandable English and they were totally ineffective.  I found myself getting more and more frustrated, and even angry.  

     At the height of my frustration, when I wanted to strangle someone, I decided to think of an act of kindness that I could do.  Shifting my attention away from my own frustration and toward helping others helped to dissolve some of those negative feelings and helped put me back in a good place.  I'm not sure how much of it was simply distracting me from my own woes, or how much was putting things in perspective, or how much was generating positive energy.  Maybe it was all of the above.  Regardless, it's a strategy that seems to work.  The next time you're feeling frustrated or angry, try doing something kind for another and see what happens.