Noah's Kindness Project

Announcing the Celebration of “Noah’s Kindness Project” 2015: Showing Love, Kindness, and Generosity on October 3, 2015

As many of you may know, our son, Noah James Haskovec, was born to us on June 13, 2015 following a week-long stay in the hospital.  We spent the next twelve days with him in the NICU at the hospital before he passed away on June 25.  Our blog documents his short but meaningful life with us here on earth. 

While Noah lived a short time, we truly believe and find consolation in that fact that his life was meaningful and impacted the lives of many others in positive ways.  Throughout our stay at the hospital, our many visits to see him at the NICU every day, and after his passing, we always felt the profound and genuine love, kindness, support, prayers, and caring offered and shown by so many people, including those who had been complete strangers to us and those living in states far away from us.  Noah’s Kindness Project is both an opportunity to remember and honor our son’s memory and to capture, recreate, and promote the kindness, generosity, and love people exhibited toward us during his life.

Noah’s life brought out the best in so many.  While we were at the hospital, friends and family regularly stopped in to visit us and offer their love and support and brought or sent many gifts and care packages in an effort to make sure we had everything we needed and to show they cared.  So many contacted us by every medium imaginable – telephone, email, texts, Facebook, cards and letters, and others – to share a supportive note and to let us know they were thinking about and praying for us that it took us quite a while to get back to everyone.  A few days before Noah was born, some friends organized a meal delivery schedule to ensure that we would not have to be concerned about planning meals for our other children.  The meal deliveries went on for fully seven weeks.  More friends and family than we can count offered to watch our other kids and dog for us throughout this time.  Some friends jumped in to take one of our sons to and from baseball practice and games.  People prayed for us – some for the first time in a long time.  We continued to receive a steady stream of letters, cards, flowers/plants, gifts, and other expressions of love and support from friends and family over the next many weeks.  Some gifts were for our other children and were offered to keep them happy and busy during this difficult time.  Once Noah had passed, the kindness, generosity, love, and support continued to flow, including some extremely moving gifts from strangers who read about and followed our experiences on the blog.  People followed our story – Noah’s story – throughout on the blog.  People rejoiced with us during the happy times, prayed for us during the challenging times, and suffered with us when he passed.  We felt lifted up throughout and were extremely touched.  Just when we thought people couldn’t possibly do more or be more generous to us, people did more.  It has been an amazing feeling. 

This October 3, Noah’s expected due date, please join us in celebrating his life and legacy.  Please take some time out of your day to do something nice for someone, to help someone in need or in distress, to volunteer or support a cause important to you, to pray for others and reflect on what we can do to help, or to just make someone’s day unexpectedly better. 

Below are some ideas of the many different ways you can participate in Noah’s Kindness Project. 

• Visit someone in the hospital (or other care facility) or in their home
• Call or reach out to someone in need or in crisis
• Volunteer for a cause important to you
• Donate to an organization that helps others and to which you would not ordinarily donate
• Donate blood
• Send a care package to someone who doesn’t expect it
• Open a door for someone or help someone carry something
• Generously tip a service person
• Thank a healthcare worker, service person, firefighter, or emergency responder for their service
• Pay for someone’s meal or drink unexpectedly
• Clean up a park, the side of the road or a neighborhood-shared space
• Send an anonymous gift and note to someone in need or struggling
• Give someone a ride to their doctor’s appointment
• Share your talent in a way to make someone’s day better

The act of kindness is really up to you.  Our goal is to have as many people as possible participate in spreading kindness and love across the world.  Your act of kindness can be as simple as holding a door or as generous as giving of your time and money to help.  All we ask is that you do something and that you join us in remembering our son.  We will provide Noah’s Kindness cards that you can print out and encourage you to leave with your act of kindness.  

To see how far-reaching Noah’s Kindness Project can reach, we ask, once your act(s) of kindness is done, that you report back and post something about your experience.  Please use the hashtag #noahskindnessproject on Twitter, Instagram and join our Facebook group “Noah’s Kindness Project”.  Take pictures, share Noah’s Kindness cards, and encourage everyone you know to participate.  The world needs more love and concern for others.  Noah and his story brought it out in so many.  We ask you to please join us and be a part of Noah’s Kindness Project.

Please join us in our efforts and connect with us on Facebook under the group, "Noah's Kindness Project"