Toby and the Million Acts of Kindness tour hits Calgary
Posted Sep 1, 2015 2:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There’s nothing like a random act of kindness. When’s the last time you did something nice for a stranger?
Spreading that message is what the Million Acts of Kindness campaign is all about.
Author Charmaine Hammond is hitting the road again with the tour’s spokes-dog ‘Toby.’
Hammond says it all began after her new Chesapeake Bay Retriever turned her life upside down.
“Destroying furniture and wrecking houses and part of the way we got his behaviour under control was to get him a job as a therapy dog,” Hammond told 660 NEWS. “This dog changed my life and taught me not to be a perfectionist, not to spend so much time wanting to control things.”
“He really taught me about patience and persistence. We decided we wanted to share these lessons with other people because dogs are such great teachers. We started taking Toby into schools and workplaces, [I’m a professional speaker], and it led into this kindness tour. Here we are now travelling 15,000 kilometres across Canada and the U.S. with Toby in our RV.”
They take Toby into schools to get the message across to kids and have reached more than 10,000 students so far.
Hammond is encouraged by the support the tour is receiving from communities and businesses.
“We have some that are supporting Toonie for Team Toby campaign, where customers in stores purchase cutout paw prints for two dollars. The funds that are raised go to putting Toby’s Kindness program and classroom kits and books into schools.”
