12. The Spread Sunshine Gang: Part One

Let's take a look at our lives and work to Heal Grow together . I'm so glad you're here . (music out) Oh , hey there , hello there . Welcome back to Heal Grow with Nickie . I hope that you are doing very well . Today, I want to tell you about my nonprofit , which sounds like I'm trying to sell you something , and I am not unless it's goodness .

Yeah , so this is going to be a two-parter . This week , I'm going to chat with you about why I started the nonprofit , and next week , I'm going to talk to you about why we are currently inactive . So , yeah , I started a nonprofit .

It's called the Spread Sunshine Gang , and let me just tell you what was going on in my life when the Spread Sunshine Gang was created . It was the winter of 2013 . Paul and I had just been married in September , which was awesome , and the rest of my life was not really going how I wanted it to .

I had a very good , informed reason to believe that I was going to start a new theater contract in just a couple of months And then that didn't happen and the way it all went down was pretty devastating to me at the time . So , anyway , I was looking for work , which , as you all know , is a challenging time, when you're looking for work . it was winter .

I don't historically do very well during the winter months , with the seasonal affective disorder and whatnot . Paul and I were not doing well financially and it was really stressful . And I specifically remember Give to the Max Day that November and being really bummed out that we couldn't give any money .

Give to the Max Day just in case you're not sure what that is is a sort of like a holiday . Here in Minnesota , it's a day of giving . So it's similar to Giving Tuesday , which is international , but Give to the Max Day is just statewide .

And so , because I have a ton of artists and nonprofits and theaters in my life , my Facebook feed was just filled with people asking for money to fund their projects And it's something I think is really wonderful , but we just weren't able to give anything that year And I just remember it really bumming me out .

So all this is happening And at the same time I am doing a self-guided course with my friends Kelly and Janet . It's called The Artist Way . It's The Artist Way by Julia Cameron . I highly recommend it . Look it up , she's fantastic .

It's fantastic And the course is a way for you to get unblocked and get into some creative flow and it can help you figure out your next steps in life . So while I was doing this course , i kept writing about wanting to have money so that I could give my money away .

But during this time this is how the spread sunshine game was born I was realizing during this course that I was focusing on the wrong things . I was focusing on what I didn't have as opposed to what I did have . So I started looking at well , what are the things that I have around my house that I can give back to others because we didn't have any money ?

And I remember finding and focusing on some art supplies that I have . I have a lot of craft supplies . I have a lot of painting supplies because I love to paint , and this is sort of how the Spirits of the Sunshine Gang was born . So we had an event , our very first event , although back then I called it a mission .

Our very first event was called Karma Cards . What we did is we met at a free space above the Lones and Barreles in Edina And a bunch of friends came and we just wrote down on these cards . We wrote down positive messaging or uplifting quotes or things like that .

And then we all took a stack home with us and the goal was to hide them around where we thought people might find them .

So what I did is I just took my stack downstairs into the grocery store and hid my cards like in the notebook paper or between the Campbell's Soup cans or in the meat section , and the thought was that someone is going to happen upon it and they're either going to think it's junk or they're going to read it and it's going to put a tiny smile on their face

. That was sort of the goal , and the thought behind it is how can we change someone's day just a little bit ? How can we make them smile ? How can we maybe change their course ? How can we change their , their energy , just for that moment ? So not a huge change , which is something small .

So that was our first event and we just kept going monthly with different events . We started out really small and then we eventually became the nonprofits and eventually we even had a small staff of volunteers and we had monthly board meetings and then we got up to like two or three events a month and it was awesome .

So then we eventually had to have a mission statement , which is the Spread Sunshine Gang provides simple yet powerful events , projects and creative opportunities that make it easy for you to share your generosity in our community . Spreading sunshine , kindness and goodness with people who need it is a gift to everyone .

Yeah , so we would get together and we would create something together and then we would give it back to the community , and I think there's something to that the creative aspect of it .

I think that it was more impactful for us and our volunteers to actually make something as opposed to donating money and look , money is good , money is good and most organizations just need your money so that they can stay in operation and so that they can fund specific projects . But that wasn't the type of organization that we were and that we are .

So some of the things we did is we would make tie blankets out of fleece and then donate them to one of the shelters downtown People serving people . Whenever they get a new client , that new client gets their very own tie blanket and then they can keep it with them for the rest of their life if they'd like to . So we did that .

We did a really fun sort of scavenger hunt that was based off of the amazing race , and one time we called it the kindness crusade , i think , but that was all about teams competing against each other to see who could do the most kind deeds . One of my favorite events was called Bundle Up Minnesota .

That we actually had some press on for a while and we would get a whole bunch of warm clothing items donated . We would get like hundreds and hundreds . And then we would go to Loring Park And we told the shelters that are around the area that we were doing it and we would essentially just decorate the park with these warm clothing items .

It was really sort of beautiful , just like visually beautiful , because it's , you know , the Minnesota winter and it's everything's just gray and dull . And then we would have these pops of color all over the park , and not only was it for anyone in the shelter , but it was really for anyone .

So we had little tags on each item that said , if you find this , i'm yours . So anyone could just walk through the park and say , oh , I like this scarf , i'm going to take it , and then they could have it . It was so fun , all of it . All of it was so fun to be together in community and to create something and then give it back .

And although you know , our organization had expenses which is one reason why we became a nonprofit , so that people could donate money It was always free for anyone to participate and people showed up .

People showed up , they showed up to help , they showed up to participate And it was so powerful for such a long time I mean we did it for eight years where we would have all these events back to school drives , i mean it just diaper drives during COVID . It was just . It was a blast And I learned so much from it .

I learned that there are so many ways to give back that don't include giving money . If you don't have money , that's okay . You still have something that you can give back . It taught me , and maybe some others too , that you don't you don't even have to have much to give back that things that you already might have in your home or your apartment .

You can donate things that you aren't using anymore . You can write notes and put them around your neighborhood . There's so many ways to make people's day just a little bit better . One of our mottoes was small gesture , big impact . Are these things changing people's lives ? Probably not , you know .

Most likely not , but maybe it's just going to make someone's day a little bit better , maybe it's going to make someone smile , and we can start with those small things . You don't have to have thousands of dollars to help out . You can just make sure that you put your carts away at the grocery store . You can hold the doors open for people .

Those tiny things also make a big impact And once you're focusing on goodness and being helpful and gratitude , you start to see it all around you . You start to see it everywhere . I was living my life in that space of just goodness and gratitude And it was a really incredible time in my life And it's a chapter that I think might be over , but maybe not .

And next week I'm going to talk to you more about that And I'll tell you why we are currently inactive . But I guess the big takeaway from this episode , i suppose , would just be that small gestures have a big impact and that it feels good to do good , and we can be doing that every single day of our lives .

We don't have to be in a specific the spread sunshine game community . You don't have to go out and start a nonprofit although it's fairly easy to do if you'd like to But that we can make a difference without money , without anything extravagant . Start small , it all matters . Thank you so much for buying me coffee this week , dr Jen .

Thank you , thank you , thank you . And to my friend , france Roberts , and Allison Johnson and Elaine Barthelamy , who are my friends from Alive and Kickin , thank you , thank you , thank you . I actually paid for my podcast hosting with your money this week . If you'd like to buy me a copy , i will leave the link for it in the comments . Today .

I'm also looking for some speaking opportunities and book reading opportunities . I love book reading , so please reach out if that is something that is of interest to you . You can find me at healandgrowwithnickypodcast at gmailcom . Nikki is spelled N-I-C-K-I-E . Thank you so much for healing and growing with me this week . My friends , i will see you soon .

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal , health or professional advice . I am not responsible for any losses , damages or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast . This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice .