Latest / Behind The Village Podcast / How a Ripple of Kindness Becomes a $300,000 Wave | Ashley Lehmann & Amber McGarvey-Moreland

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How a Ripple of Kindness Becomes a $300,000 Wave | Ashley Lehmann & Amber McGarvey-Moreland · Behind The Village Podcast

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  You're listening to the Behind the Village podcast,
• 0:04
  where we invite you to join us on a journey to
• 0:07
  understand how to live a life worth living. Ashley
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  Lehman and Amber McGarvey -Morland are co -directors
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  of the Aurelia chapter of Ripple of Kindness.
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  I can't begin to explain how incredible these
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  two women are, how much they care for and support
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  our community is inspirational. Through the years,
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  the work they've done with Ripple of Kindness
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  has resulted in donating over $300 ,000 in support
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  of many local charities and organizations. Ripple
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  of Kindness is a women's giving circle. It's
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  an opportunity to connect with like -minded women
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  in the community and make an impact with our
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  charitable donations. It was founded in Barrie
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  10 years ago by Marianne Frith and Barbara White.
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  And then just over six years ago, I thought,
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  oh, we could bring a chapter to Aurelia and ask
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  for their permission and blessings. And so Aurelia's
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  chapter became the first official chapter from
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  the Barrie. So it's just the two of us and the
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  Ripple Kids Simcoe County. We make two. $200
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  donations a year in Aurelia. And so recognizing
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  that I could donate to any charity $200 and it's
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  going to make a small impact, maybe a bit bigger
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  for some of the smaller charities. But if 100
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  of us donate $200 at one time, that's going to
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  make a greater impact and then we can all feel
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  that ripple. So that's the kind of concept of
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  Ripple of Kindness. It inspires people to think
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  about how they can be philanthropic. And for
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  some people, again, that $200 is the first or
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  the largest donation they've ever made to a charity.
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  And when we meet at our socials, that really
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  gives this nice impact in the warm and fuzzies
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  that you get around giving. And we hope that
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  it really inspires further giving into the future.
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  Talk to me about kindness. giving and those kind
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  of things. And what, how do you define it? And
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  why is it important to you? Philanthropy is very
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  important to me. I don't, I didn't grow up with
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  a lot. I really didn't. And I know that my mom
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  had to work hard. And it was something that she
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  taught me when I was little is just like, if
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  you can help, just help. And it's Just those
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  little small acts of kindness. It's down to,
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  like, a small, simple smile or asking somebody
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  if they need help opening the door or putting
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  their groceries away. I have practiced that since
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  I was young, and it's something that I'm doing
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  with my children. And I just think having this,
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  you know, ROK and, like, with this small but
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  massive group of women, like, we can do such
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  a small thing and make it huge. And that's the
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  way I look at it. It could be a small smile to
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  like a small donation and it just ends up changing
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  somebody's whole day or whole charity or whole,
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  like, it's just inspiring to just do something
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  so small and it becomes so big. That's the way
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  I see philanthropy. If it's, you know, taking
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  a food donation or it's just like the smallest
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  things and you just, it makes your whole day
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  so much brighter. And when I'm having a bad day
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  like today, I had to put my little hedgehog down
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  yesterday, so it's a heavy day. I have found
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  myself just being kind to people because you
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  don't know what they're going through. They don't
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  know that I lost my hedgehog, but they could
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  do something down to just smiling to me, and
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  it could, like, I don't know. I'll ramble on
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  about it forever. It's just the smallest things
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  mean the most to me. Yeah. Yeah. Life is so hard.
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  And not everyone is as open as, you know, others
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  about the challenges and difficulties and the
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  sorrows of life. And we come from a pretty privileged
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  place to be able to do this work. And my goal
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  is to hopefully leave the world in a better place
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  than... you know, when I go. And any time that
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  you can help out another human being who might
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  be struggling, might be having a bad day or like
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  multiple days, like just life isn't, it's not
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  treating them well. People go through a lot of
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  struggles. When you can be kind to someone, it
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  just makes the world a better place. So why wouldn't
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  we start with our community and see what we can
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  do? And it kind of sounds so cliche with the
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  ripple of kindness makes a wave of impact, but
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  it really does. Helping one another. That's why
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  we're here. I just think it's pretty beautiful
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  to be in a room for some people. You know, we've
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  got to know the members over the years, but for
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  new members joining. that you already have something
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  in common with everyone there. You want to help
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  your community. You want to make an impact. You're
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  like -minded. You already have the common denominator.
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  And there's so much wisdom. And, you know, we
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  don't really share this that often, but I think
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  it's worth noting that we have members from age
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  18 to 90 in their 90s. And so the wealth of like
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  wisdom and knowledge in those rooms when we gather
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  as well. It's really inspiring. It's really,
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  yeah. Yeah. And we all have something to teach
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  or advice or support, encouragement. It's a beautiful,
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  beautiful place to be in. And it really does
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  inspire you. Like, how can I do more? How can
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  I do better? That's how I feel after leaving
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  our socials. Like, what else can I do? Yeah.
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  It's important. And that support's important,
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  too. And I think that's something, as I talk
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  to more and more people, that aspect of connecting
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  with others that are of the same. It's so important.
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  You know, whatever that is, you know, kind of
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  thing. And you learn so much, too. And something
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  that I really love about ROK, and I know a lot
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  of our members, especially our new members, have
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  mentioned, they learn more about the community
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  and the resources and all the charities that
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  we have in Orillia. They've never even heard
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  of them. And that I love because... And there's
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  been a few that I didn't really know about until,
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  you know, we're reading about it in our voting
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  email. And I'm just like, wow, like I didn't
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  know that was available. And really, like, that's
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  incredible. I want to learn more about that.
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  I want to help, you know, like Hillcrest Lodge
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  and Community Fridge. Those are our last two
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  recipients. Amber and I are going to do some
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  gardening for Hillcrest Lodge. It's like just
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  opening up all these doors of where this community
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  needs help and volunteers. And again, just more
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  philanthropy in so many different ways. Yeah.
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  Isn't there, what was that saying? I don't know
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  if it was in a movie, but something along the
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  lines of like, look for the helpers. I forget
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  where that's from. I don't know either, but I've
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  heard that before. Yeah. But like in times of
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  struggle or, you know, look for the help. There's
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  always, you'll always find that. Yeah. And I
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  think that's important. And I think now trying
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  to be more connected to the community and be
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  part of more things, especially in this way,
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  you're able to find those people. And, you know,
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  the way you said it, Amber, like life is hard.
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  It's really challenging and just there's a lot
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  going on in the world right now. And then to
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  be able to look and see that in our community,
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  we have this group of people like it's so nice
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  and it's kind of reassuring. You know how people
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  say like when they work out, they feel better.
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  Like that, like helping people and like trying
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  to do small acts of kindness that like will boost
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  my energy more than like a workout. Don't get
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  me wrong. You know, workouts are great, but I
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  prefer going and doing a small act of kindness
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  and, you know, helping somebody with their groceries
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  or paying for their groceries or putting food
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  in the community fridge or, yeah, that's my go
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  -to. Do you have a specific moment or a story
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  with Ripple of Kindness that stands out to you?
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  Our inaugural social was in 2018, late 2018.
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  And it was just to share the concept of are okay
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  with people and hope we'd have, you know, a handful
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  of members. I think the goal was like 30 or 40
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  at that time. And come spring, May 2019, we had
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  enough members. We had gone through the vote
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  and Mariposa House Hospice was still in their
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  building phase in their campaign. to raise money
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  for the residential hospice. And I'm pausing
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  because it's very near and dear to my heart for
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  people to die with dignity and receive palliative
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  care and support and their loved ones and grief
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  support in a place like a residential hospice.
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  And, you know, I only have one vote, just like
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  everyone else. And when it came time to make
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  the donation, it was to Mariposa House Hospice.
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  So we all gathered and our donation was over
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  20 ,000 hospice, Mariposa House Hospice representatives
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  came. to thank members and tell them about hospice
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  and what our donation would go to, what our funds
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  would be utilized for. And that was a palliative
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  care bed in the house. And there's a plaque,
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  a ripple of kindness plaque that's above or on
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  the bed somewhere. And one of my... past colleagues
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  that I refer to as my fairy godmother that I
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  worked at hospice really with years ago her husband
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  passed away last year and she sent me a message
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  on Facebook when I knew he was in hospice and
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  she said Bill is in the ripple of kindness bed
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  and I can feel you all with us while I say my
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  goodbyes. And I just thought it was so beautiful.
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  Like how lucky that we were to be part of that,
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  the beginning. And lost probably other friends
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  and acquaintances. But they got to go out in
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  like the most beautiful space, the most beautiful
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  care from the staff and volunteers there. It
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  was years later. You know, this was just last
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  year. It was all these years later. And it's
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  like, oh, we're still making that impact. There's
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  still that. It just continues to ripple. That
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  is one of probably hundreds of moments that I'll
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  never forget. Yeah, it was pretty beautiful,
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  pretty special. Yeah. One that really sticks
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  out. Amber, was it Captain Howard? Am I saying
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  that right? Yeah, from Salvation Army. So they
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  were our third recipient ago? Is that correct?
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  Yeah. He came to our social and he spoke about,
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  you know, obviously what they're going to do
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  with the... the money that they received from
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  ROK. And I don't know, it just, it hit my emotions
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  because growing up again, we didn't come from
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  a lot. And I know that Salvation Army is huge
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  for their Christmas hampers. And I remember my
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  mom using it one year, like she just couldn't
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  make it happen. She tried her best, worked hard,
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  but this one, she just had to do something to
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  help. or get help and Salvation Army. Like I
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  remember, I was so young, but I remember them
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  coming to my home with these beautiful hampers
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  and food and gifts for me and my three other
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  siblings. And it tugged on my little heartstrings
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  when they were the recipient and he spoke about
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  what they do with the money and the Christmas
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  hampers. And yeah, that one really sticks with
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  me. Yeah. It's beautiful and I love the... you
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  know, that deep connection to those around us,
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  I think is just... It's crazy how everything
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  circles back. And I find that with a lot of the
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  things that Ripple does, Ripple Kindness does,
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  and, you know, even personally, like I just find
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  everything in the community circles back. Let's
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  talk about new members. And are there certain
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  qualities that you hope members have when you're...
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  Accepting new members, is it fairly open or is
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  there a process? We are always accepting new
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  members. And the process is they go to the Aurelia
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  chapter tab at rippleofkindness .ca and join.
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  It's a simple membership form, takes 30 seconds
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  to fill out. Longer for me who forgets my name
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  sometimes. And we will have you with open arms.
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  We will... not accept um any form of we're non
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  -denominational we are not here for politics
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  or anything like that don't come in with your
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  own agenda um this is a place of peace and kindness
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  and those seem like basic qualities for people
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  but confusion more of a struggle for others and
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  um we just want people to join who want to help
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  others. And that's like, that's, I think, pretty
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  achievable. We welcome people with open arms.
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  Of course, the more people, the more members
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  that we have, the bigger the impact of our gifts.
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  What's also great is that 100 % of our donation
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  goes directly to the charity. We don't have a
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  bank account. We don't take a fee of any sort
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  to do the administrative things or costs. So
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  when someone joins, they can join as an individual
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  or they can join as a business. And for some
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  of our members, it's a really good opportunity
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  to network. And that's wonderful, especially
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  if they're a new or growing business. And it's
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  also a wonderful opportunity for newcomers to
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  Aurelia to get to know other women in the community
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  and to get to learn about the charities that
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  we support that have been nominated because they
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  provide this, you know, 250 word pitch or description
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  of their services. So they will learn about these
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  charities. Some of the members on top of donating
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  to our recipient, they will go and donate and
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  or volunteer. with some of the other organizations
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  so it has these really neat uh webs these ripple
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  uh waves that go out in different ways but it's
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  it's a win -win you know um it's a win -win being
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  part of ripple a win -win -win i will also say
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  that it can be very appealing um uh to Younger
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  members who may be in the demographic that they're
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  raising kids, working full time, you know, balancing
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  their children's or the family's extracurricular
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  activities or their own, because your only commitment
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  is the $200 twice a year. You do not need to
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  attend a social to make your donation. Actually,
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  we have many members who have been members for
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  six years who haven't attended a social. They're
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  often traveling or, you know, it conflicts with
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  their schedule or they're introverted and this
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  is just not their thing, but they still want
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  to be part of the beautiful, magical park. And
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  to be able to do that, and you can vote online.
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  As long as you have access to the email, if you're
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  traveling, you can vote online. So you can be
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  part of Ripple without having the volunteer commitment.
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  I would like to say thank you. A thank you to
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  each and every one of our Ripple members. We
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  say it in our speaking notes every time at every
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  social, but I don't think people actually pause
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  and reflect in that moment and say, oh, she's
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  talking to us. Like they're referring to us and
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  they take that in because, you know, it's just,
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  you know, everyone's so busy. It's like, please
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  stop and take a moment to think of the 18 charities
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  that we've supported. $360 ,000 that has gone
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  out into our community. Thank yourself for being
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  a member. Give yourself a pat on the back. Bring
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  someone to our next social. Maybe they'll be
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  inspired to join too. But from the bottom of
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  our hearts, thank you. Thank you so much because
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  this is, it's a beautiful thing and you're supporting
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  us. You're supporting the charities. You're supporting.
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  you know, all these individuals in your community
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  and what's better than that. Thank you both for
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  joining me and sharing what's important to you
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  and how you view kindness and giving back. It's
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  people like you that encourage the rest of us
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  to also jump in and do what we can to support
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  others. Thank you for listening to the entire
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  episode. All the links and info you heard in
• 18:42
  this conversation will be featured in the show
• 18:44
  notes on our website. If you'd like to know more
• 18:46
  about anything we mentioned in this episode,
• 18:48
  make sure to check villagermagazine .ca slash
• 18:50
  podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please
• 18:54
  leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify
• 18:56
  or wherever you're listening from. If you'd like
• 18:58
  to help this podcast grow, consider subscribing
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• 19:03
  so you never miss an episode. Thanks again and
• 19:06
  I'll see you next time.