Wednesday of this week I received a phone call from Mr. Giampaolo Pioli, President of Correspondents Association at the UN, he has been following One Million Acts Of Kindness with great interest. He requested an interview for La Nazione, Italy’s oldest newspaper, I had to think for a nanosecond. The article ran today in Italy, it is going to take a month to answer my emails. Many thanks, Mr. Giampaolo Pioli for helping to spread this message to Italy and beyond.
I am hearing more and more these days from people, that they have heard of this movement, today from several students and a local school teacher. Four very interested people; John, Gretchen, Dave, and Linda were so supportive of all this movement stands for. Thank you for your very inspiring words. It means the world to me.
Today I completed a rough draft of the first book in the series of,  ” Bogart and The Magical Kindness Bus Tour.”  I am loving this more and more with each passing day.

We are using this mission, to further its reach, by writing a series of books for the very youngest of our society. These books will be a primer for children and the creative ways problems can be solved. Bogart, of course will be the star. He will take a human approach as to how he lives his life. He will be a role model to children and problem solver to various dilemmas which are introduced throughout the series. Parents, teachers and care givers alike, can count on Bogart being an ally in helping to create a foundation for children on which to build upon their evolving core beliefs.
This series will follow Bogart as he travels on The Magical Kindness Bus Tour while helping kids to live their lives with a goal of kindness. The best part is, it is a true story as well.

This was one of those days where there just aren’t enough hours in the day. It all started off at a casual pace until I was told, that no way could I come to Gainesville and not go to the Wednesday Farmer’s Market. This advice offered by Oriya was spot on. Oriya showed up out of nowhere to admire the bus and after talking with her, I felt like one of the locals. She was a wealth of information. While talking with her, it dawned on me that I was to do a live interview with Growing Bolder Radio Show which is based out of Orlando. I rushed off to get to a quiet area in town to do a remote conference call. What a blast the interview was, I enjoyed being questioned by two interviewers at once, while they peppered me with questions. My visit to UF, although on the short side, was well worth the time spent, as we worked the main entrance area and had conversations with nearly everyone who passed our way. We headed to the Farmer’s Market in the downtown region of Gainesville, Oriya gave us valuable information as where to park. What a great mix of people. The Kindness Bus Tour, needless to say, was the talk of the town this pleasant north Florida day. A full day of promoting kindness, packed into twelve hours.

The sandstone base to the bronze of Albert A Murphree, the first President of this University speaks volumes. With Kindness, Vision, and Wisdom, he devoted his life to the cause of education. As president of the university from 1909-1927, he laid the foundation on which the university is built. These core values are how this great man is forever remembered, because of his devotion to them.
Today the squirrels outnumbered the students 3 to 1; one of us had a field day, the other a sore wrist from holding onto a leash. I did however, have a field day in the quality department. Only talking with maybe one hundred students and faculty at the most, I made sure to make the best of it. “I hear that there is a Boston down here” were the words of Mandy who has a rescue Boston named Ladybug, she and I were trading stories when her colleague, Beth stopped by. Both of these women work directly with the student body on campus. Mandy is designing a restorative justice program and loved the tie-in with One Million Acts of Kindness; they left with one hundred plus stickers. Bogart is one gifted dog, bringing these two caring women our way. As we were ready to head back to the plaza, Bobbie a woman who was thrilled about The Kindness Bus Tour, insisted on helping the cause. Thank you to all.

On Saturday, I realized one small glitch in my itinerary, I am arriving in Florida one week early. After seven months since leaving Cleveland, I finally crossed the Florida border today and I’m early. I’m early because all state colleges in Florida are on spring break this week. Whoops! Lucky for me, because of its size, UF still has thousands of students who have remained on campus. Bogart is on cloud nine with all of the squirrels on the green space where we were able to pull the bus. He even seems to have had some help treeing one of the rascals, as is depicted in today’s photo. I had the opportunity to speak with nearly two hundred students in my late afternoon visit. It is nice to have a smaller crowd with little to no pressure of rushing to class, allowing  the conversations to last longer. This mission is turning out to know no boundaries as we have had more interest, in a very big way. More news on this in the very near future. I am honored.

In little over a two hour period, while sitting on the patio of a local coffee shop, four separate moms with children stopped by to get to meet Bogart and learn about The Magical Kindness Bus Tour. All four moms expressed wanting the very best the world has to offer, but were concerned what sort of world it would be.”What a great thing you are doing, don’t ever stop” was the inspiration one mom offered. Another caring mother was on her way with her two children to spend a few days with their grandfather. She expressed the want for people to connect on a personal basis, a return to small town values. I agree wholeheartedly. “Kindness is the value, when practiced  continually, can help us return to those small town values”, was a family rule one mom said. “Don’t ever let a disconnection with your child ever occur, overcome any disconnect immediately” another mom offered. All four of these moms were instilling valuable lessons, by being constant role models to their children. What an insightful morning for me. Thank you moms.