The Kindness Bus has seen so many weather events during the thirty months it has been part of the One Million Acts Of Kindness mission. It has seen blinding rain storms, icy roadways, it has been surrounded by a 3 foot snow drift, and now, a record setting heat wave which seems to have no end. So many people ask me how I am able to live on The Kindness Bus when it is so hot without the comforts of air conditioning. It really doesn’t seem to bother me. I have a fan which I position a couple of feet away from my bed at night. To me as well, some of the things people have to put up with on a daily basis for years, makes me realize that a little bit of sacrifice for a few weeks in the summer is but a small price to pay if I can raise awareness about Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse. The photo today is of the thermometer which I keep on the bus. The photo was taken in the late afternoon. The other photo hangs on the ceiling above my bed, it is of a young boy in Darfur. I’m sure it was at least as hot for him, and I’m also sure it was the least of his worries.

It is heating up out here! Not only was it hot outside today, 110 degrees in downtown Kansas City, The Kindness Bicycle Tour is heating up with the local news. FOX4, Kansas City’s biggest television station and The Kansas City Star, its newspaper sent out reporters out to battle the heat and get the story on One Million Acts Of Kindness and The Kindness Bicycle Tour. I couldn’t have been more excited to get so much press in a town of this size.
Having a way of being self-sufficient is one very big hurdle for a woman when she moves out on her own. Having skills for the workplace is a big help in re-establishing life after living in a home with an abuser. I hear from many coalitions that many of their success stories come from women who are able to support themselves because of their education.
Today’s weather certainly wasn’t conducive to riding The Kindness Bicycle. I rode for 3 hours and was done by 10AM as the temperature was nearing 100 degrees by mid-morning.

I found the sculpture, in the picture used today, in front of the Communications Center by the Courthouse in Kansas City. It sums up one of the biggest hurdles advocates have to face when dealing with victims; communication. One of the most difficult actions a Domestic Violence victim MUST choose to do, is speak of the evil that happens. It is the most important part of the process.
Police Captain Mark Folsom, Commander of the Special Victim’s Unit in Kansas City, MO put in place a program rarely used before it became mainstream. Officers use an eleven question approach. If victims answer yes to certain questions, a red flag goes up and advocacy is called to meet with the victim to encourage dialogue. There was a big drop in every category of offenses, in its first year of existence.
It is crazy hot in Kansas City today, the temperature reached a sizzling 104 degrees. I was on my bike by 6:30 AM and pretty much wilted by day’s end. As luck would have it, on one of my trips back to The Kindness Bus a young woman with her husband and daughter were near the bus wanting photos of The Kindness Bicycle. Unbelievably, she used to work at Hope House in Kansas City with NNEDV President, Sue Else several years ago. She is now a school counselor and I could see her eyes brighten when I handed her a Kindness Certificate to remind her to print one for each of her students this and every school year to come.